Poison

In medical jurisprudence. A substance having an inherent deleterious property which renders it, when taken into the system, capable of destroying life. Whart. & S. Med. Jur. § 493; Tayl. Poisons (2d Am. Ed.) 18.

In Medical Jurisprudence. Any substance which, when taken into the living organism, is capable of causing Impairment or cessation of function. Blyth, Poisons. The history of poisoning, and many remarkable early instances of a wide-spread especially, Taylor, Poisons; Archb. Cr. Pract Waterman’s ed. 940; Whact. & StillG, Med. Jur.; 1 Beekman, Hist. Jur. 74. The classification proposed by Mr. Taylor (Med. Jur. §§ 71, 74, 78) is as follows: — Acids, Alka- 1 1 e 8 and Mineral -J { their Salts. Metalloids.

Ordinarily, a substance taken internally, seriously injurious to health and often fatal to life. In common parlance, chloroform is classed among poisonous substances. Upon a charge of murder by poisoning, the State must prove, beyond a reasonable doubt, that the deceased came to his death by poison administered by the accused knowingly and feloniously. See Accident; Administer, 1; Adulterate; Attempt; Druggist; Murder; Noxious.

crim. law. Those substances which, when applied to the organs of the body, are capable of altering or destroying, in a majority of cases, some or all of the functions When administered with a felonious intent of committing murder, if death ensues, it is murder the most detestable, because it can of all others, be least prevented by manhood or forethought. It is a deliberate act necessarily implying malice. 1 Russ. Cr. 429. For the signs which indicate poisoning, vide 2 Beck’s Med. Jurisp. ch. 16, p. 236 et seq.; Cooper’s Med. Jurisp. 47; Ryan’s Med. Jurisp. ch. 15, p. 202, et seq.