Poison, detection and the Victorian imagination

204 Pages·2006·21.077 MB·English

by  Ian Burney

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riminal poisoning both fascinated and terrified
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Victorian society. Anonymous and coldly calculating,
poisoners, observers feared, were drawing on the advances
made by modern science to inflict a new and insidious form of P
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violence. To counter this threat, contemporaries looked to an emergent
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field of scientific expertise – toxicology. As a ‘poison detective’, it was s
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the toxicologist’s task to bring invisible deeds to the light of day and, by n
recourse to his test-tubes and chemical reagents, to enable poisoned ,

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bodies to tell their tales from beyond the grave. Yet poison detection in
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practice was no easy matter, and its findings were subjected to t
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searching questions by an anxious, and often sceptical, public. c
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In this challenging and entertaining new book, Ian Burney embeds o
discussions about the relationship between medico-legal expertise and n
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its wider cultural context in an account of several celebrated poisoning
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trials, focusing in particular on the 1856 case of William Palmer. A n
rogue doctor, gambler, forger, adulterer and serial murderer, Palmer d

served as the apogee of the Victorian poisoner, and ultimately called t
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into question the capacity of the poison detective to satisfy the e
demands of his public. V
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Burney has produced an exemplary work of interdisciplinary history, c
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mixing a keen understanding of the social and cultural landscape of o
the period with the histories of science, medicine and the law. Lucidly r
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written and blending rigorous scholarship with riveting stories from a
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the annals of crime, Poison, detection, and the Victorian imagination

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will appeal to an interdisciplinary professional audience, and to all m Poison,
those interested in the darker side of Victorian society.
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Ian Burney is Senior Lecturer at the Centre for the History of Science, in detection, and
Technology and Medicine, and the Wellcome Unit, University of Manchester. a
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o the Victorian
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Cover image:
Lucrezia Borgia by Dante Gabriel Rossetti, 1860–61. © Tate Gallery, London imagination
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Ian Burney
www.manchesteruniversitypress.co.uk
9780719087783 cvr.indd 1 20/4/12 14:37:16
Poison, detection, and
the Victorian imagination
(cid:2)
ENCOUNTERS cultural histories
Series editors:
Roger Cooter
Harriet Ritvo
Carolyn Steedman
Bertrand Taithe
Over the past few decades cultural history has become the discipline ofencoun-
ters.Beyond the issues raised by the ‘linguistic turn’,the work oftheorists such as
Norbert Elias, Pierre Bourdieu, Michel Foucault or Jacques Derrida has con-
tributed to the emergence of cultural history as a forum for bold and creative
exchange.This series proposes to place encounters – human,intellectual and dis-
ciplinary – at the heart ofhistorical thinking.Encounterswill include short,inno-
vative and theoretically informed books from all fields ofhistory.The series will
provide an arena for exploring new and reassembled historical subjects,stimulat-
ing perceptions and re-perceptions of the past,and methodological challenges
and innovations;it will publish at history’s cutting edge.The Encountersseries
will demonstrate that history is the hidden narrative ofmodernity.
Poison, detection, and
the Victorian imagination
(cid:2)
an urney
I B
Manchester University Press
Manchester
Copyright © Ian Burney 2006
The right of Ian Burney to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted
by him in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
Published by Manchester University Press
Altrincham Street, Manchester M1 7JA
www.manchesteruniversitypress.co.uk
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data is available
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available
ISBN 978 0 7190 8778 3 paperback
First published by Manchester University Press in hardback 2006
The publisher has no responsibility for the persistence or accuracy of URLs for any external or third-
party internet websites referred to in this book, and does not guarantee that any content on such
websites is, or will remain, accurate or appropriate.
Contents
List ofplates pagevi
Acknowledgements viii
Introduction 1
1 Poison and the Victorian imagination 11
2 Disciplining poison 40
3 Plain matters offact:making and representing toxicological
knowledge 78
4 The crime ofthe age:the case ofWilliam Palmer 116
5 The travails ofpoison hunting 152
Index 189
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v
Plates
1 Robert Christison.(Reproduced by courtesy ofthe Wellcome
Library,London) page91
2 Alfred Swaine Taylor.(Reproduced by courtesy ofthe Wellcome
Library,London) 92
3 Hygeian Illustration,no.4,with historical and fictional poisoners
queuing at a Victorian chemist’s shop to procure poisonous medicines.
Practical illustrations ofthe guinea trade,and ofthe dangers of
combining deadly chemical preparations with medicine.(Reproduced
by courtesy ofThe National Archives) 93
4 Alfred Swaine Taylor and George Owen Rees in their laboratory.
Engraving,from Illustrated and unabridged edition ofThe Times report
ofthe trial ofWilliam Palmer for poisoning John Parsons Cook,at Rugeley:
from the short-hand notes taken in the Central Court from day to day
(London:Ward and Lock,1856).(Reproduced by courtesy ofthe
Director and University Librarian,The John Rylands University
Library,The University ofManchester) 94
5 William Palmer at the races.Engraving,from Illustrated life,career,and
trial ofWilliam Palmer,ofRugeley: Containing details ofhis conduct as
schoolboy,medical student,racing-man,and poisoner; together with
original letters ofWilliam and Anne Palmer,and other authentic
documents; the whole ofhis private diary up to the hour ofhis arrest,
with a verbatim report ofhis trial,and fullest particulars respecting
his execution at Stafford(London:Ward and Lock,1856).(Reproduced
by courtesy ofthe Director and University Librarian,The John
Rylands University Library,The University ofManchester) 95
6 Alfred Swaine Taylor giving evidence at the Cook inquest.Engraving,
from Illustrated and unabridged edition ofThe Times report ofthe trial
ofWilliam Palmer for poisoning John Parsons Cook,at Rugeley: from
the short-hand notes taken in the Central Court from day to day
(London:Ward and Lock,1856).(Reproduced by courtesy ofthe
Director and University Librarian,The John Rylands University
Library,The University ofManchester) 96
Plates
7 William Palmer’s death mask,with phrenological calculations,
revealing the prominent trait ofsecretiveness.Detail from:
Phrenological chart; with design ofhead containing symbols ofthe
phrenological ‘faculties’and diagrams ofheads showing criminal and
moral ‘propensities’.Wood engraving.London:George Philip and Son.
(Reproduced by courtesy ofthe Wellcome Library,London) 96
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vii
Acknowledgements
I began working on this book during my final year at the Michigan Society ofFel-
lows,and then took it to Warwick’s Centre for Social History,where I spent eight-
een months as a Wellcome Research Fellow.I would like to thank colleagues and
staff at both these institutions for providing me with supportive environments
within which to pursue my research.Most ofthe research and writing has been
conducted since my arrival at the University ofManchester’s Centre for the His-
tory ofScience,Technology and Medicine and its associated Wellcome Unit for
the History ofMedicine,and I have benefited greatly from the institutional and
intellectual resources at my disposal here.I owe a special debt ofgratitude to my
Centre colleagues past and present,especially Roberta Bivins,Vladimir Jankovic,
Jay Kennedy,Gill Mawson,Neil Pemberton,John Pickstone,and Mick Worboys,
who have read and commented on significant portions ofthe manuscript.I have
also enjoyed the help and encouragement of friends from the wider University
community,Bob di Napoli,Conrad Leyser,and Bertrand Taithe,and the John
Rylands University Library staff,especially Joanne Crane and Alyson Offiler.José
Bertomeu-Sánchez and Bettina Wahrig have shared their considerable expertise
on nineteenth-century toxicology with me, while Mario Biagioli, Tom Green,
Chris Lawrence, Joan Scott, James Vernon, and Dror Wahrman offered their
advice and critical insight throughout. The Wellcome Trust has funded my
research over the life ofthis project,and I gratefully acknowledge its generosity.
A version ofchapter 3 appeared in ‘Languages ofthe lab:toxicological testing
and medico-legal proof’,in Studies in history and philosophy ofscience,33:2,2002,
289–314,and is reproduced here by permission ofElsevier Ltd.;portions ofchap-
ter 4 appear in ‘A poisoning ofno substance:the trials ofmedico-legal proofin
mid-Victorian England’, in the Journal of British studies 38:1 (January 1999),
59–92,and is reproduced here by permission ofthe University ofChicago Press.
Rachel,Cailin,and Rohin have put up with having a husband and father whose
research topic might give others less loving and trusting pause for thought.I will
try to find something more cheerful to write about next time.I dedicate this book
to my parents,who support me in all that I do.
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viii
To my parents