Victorian Urban Legends: Snuff Poisoning? July 14, 2015
Author: Beach Combing | in : Modern , trackback
No not the cinematic kind of snuff! This story appeared in 1870 and enjoyed wide circulation in all British newspapers.
A Wolverhampton contemporary records what seems to be a new trick upon railway travellers. The other day, a passenger from Wolverhampton to Bilston, after having been drawn into conversation by couple of respectable looking fellow-travellers, was offered by one of them pinch of snuff. Though not a snuffer the Bilstonian accepted out of politeness, and almost immediately felt a peculiar sensation in the head. Fortunately Bilston was soon reached, and he got out of the train, but became so dizzy that he had to repair to the house of the nearest acquaintance, where he remained in a semi insensible state for a considerable time. Rightly or wrongly, he concluded that the polite owner of the snuffbox had administered to him some narcotic drug, with the object easily guessed; and it certainly does seem fortunate that the intended victim, if he was one, had no further to go under such suspicious circumstances. His experience will at all events serve to put other travellers ‘up to snuff,’ and probably give a new application to the obsolete phrase, ‘pass the snuffers’. Pais Herald, 21 May 1870, 3
Leaving aside the bad puns, what is this story? It has all the makings of a nineteenth-century urban legend. Many urban legends it will be remembered concern crime and warnings against crime. In this tale or account, a man, unnamed, is given some drugged snuff. Beach is no pharmacist but it would take some pretty strong snuff (or a CIA lab) to have snuff make you dizzy or even risk knocking you out. Then, if we accept the idea of knock-out snuff there are other problems. This seems a pretty risky strategy on all but the most deserted trains: men keeling over are an excellent invite to passers-by to intervene; if this was a brothel in Paris it might be another question. It also seems dangerous in legal terms: drugging someone could be turned into assault and battery by the police. The ‘respectable looking’ passengers also gets Beach nose tingling. It is true that many criminals dress up, especially in a constipated and class-conscious society like Victorian England, but the very nature of that constipated society makes ‘respectable looking’ or apparently ‘respectable’ a natural object of nineteenth-century cant. Any thoughts on the probability of this crime being: (i) real; (ii) in the imagination of the victim; (iii) a concoction, drbeachcombing AT yahoo DOT com Beach should say that he is always interested in urban legends of any kind.
14 Jul 2015: First of all a reader who wants to remain anonymous has sent in some material that leaves no doubt that morphine was mixed with snuff. ‘snuff was often flavored and scented. Chloroform was then an easily made/obtained drug. it was odorous, but acted quickly. many railroad cars were of compartments, closed doors/2 benches, especially for richer passengers, 1st class and 2nd class. regular 3rd class was the “cattle” car, not private. snuff boxes were often ornate, expensive. poor folks just used the bottles. here’s a link to assorted preparations of snuff with morphine or chloroform etc, used as medicine, pre 1900: from which: 2938 Cold ln the Head One and one half grains muriate of morphia and 1 dram subnitrate of bismuth to be used as a snuff which should last at least 48 hours. lt is made a little better by the addition of 10 grains of gum arabic etc etc etc few of which are relevant.’ The Anonymous Reader also notes many entries relating to snuff and crime on google books, and there are a couple of where snuff is thrown in the eyes. I (Beach) am still unable to find anything though factual about snuff being used to knock someone out.
Next, Mrs Daffodil writes in with a post I had never seen: a serial killer and snuff. I can see how arsenic and snuff would kill someone, but I still can’t see how morphine and snuff could knock someone out, unless massive quantities were taken. Again I am not a pharmacist…
21 Jul 2015: Chris from Haunted Ohio Books writes in: I had a doctor’s appt today and asked her about chloroform/morphine/snuff. She said it probably wasn’t chloroform, but chloral hydrate. Adding it to snuff might not be noticeable since some snuff is moist. Depending on the concentration, it would effectively knock someone out or, added to the morphine, make them disoriented enough to be robbed or kidnapped.
Anonymous Reader: I’m still a bit confused, why you think stuff in snuff is ineffective? or why someone would invent the story?
surely you see MANY MANY contemporary accounts of mickies, “date drugs” and assorted associated crimes.
you will have seen several places mentioning that chloroform isn’t instant, but can be a minute. if overdosed. but overdoses can be fatal.
typically a few minutes with a soaked rag for just anaesthesia.
however, snuff itself was often flavored and scented, so the sweetness of the chloroform less likely to be noticed.
and the powder snuff would stay stuck in the nasal passages, while the anaesthetic volatiles, that turn to vapor at 100 degree person temperatures, escaped into the nostrils/lungs.
the danger always was that chloroform overdose could get to the lungs, causing death instead of incapacitation. suddenly a much much worse crime. which is why hospitals stopped using chloroform, when better less lethal chemicals arrived.
the literary accounts of chloroform mention drops, not teaspoonsful. so yes, it’s powerful. but researchers say the popular accounts are ng.
chemicals in the mucous in the nose can get stuck there, can be absorbed quickly and at length.
JAMA 1906?
give my own theory as to the above It is an acknowledged fact that in the tropical climates chloroform is given with less danger to life In fact the anesthetic is so volatile that it sometimes becomes necessary to use a more or less closed method By heating the chloroform to 100 F we as nearly as possible reproduce the conditions at the equator The vapor is more readily absorbed by the blood and little or none of the vapor remains in the reserve air in the lungs With chloroform as ordinarily administered a certain per cent of the vapor remains in this reserve air to be warmed over before it is capable of being absorbed by the blood As long as the vapor remains in the lungs in this way it is a menace to the life of the patient This itself would be a sufficient reason for administering a warm vapor in preference to a cold one My idea is that after this warm vapor gets in the blood it is also more readily given off whereas a cold vapor circulates for an indefinite period In other words while the chloroform vapor at a higher temperature is more easily absorbed it is also more easily given off
21 July 2015: JT writes in just some links to some info about a drug that is still used by criminals to render their victims insensible or unconscious.
