It gives a reaction which might very easily be
mistaken for a slight trace of cyanide. I think that explains
what the chemist discovered; no more, no less. The cyanide theory
does not fit."
"One chemist hinted at nux vomica," volunteered the coroner. "He
said it wasn't nux vomica, but that the blood test showed
something very much like it. Oh, we've looked for morphine
chloroform, ether, all the ordinary poisons, besides some of the
little known alkaloids. Believe me, Professor Kennedy, it was
asphyxia."
I could tell by the look that crossed Kennedy's face that at last
a ray of light had pierced the darkness. "Have you any spirits of
turpentine in the office?" he asked.
The coroner shook his head and took a step toward the telephone
as if to call the drug-store in town.
"Or ether?" interrupted Craig. "Ether will do."
"Oh, yes, plenty of ether."
Craig poured a little of one of the blood samples from the jar
into a tube and added a few drops of ether. A cloudy dark
precipitate formed. He smiled quietly and said, half to himself,
"I thought so."
"What is it?" asked the coroner eagerly. "Nux vomica?"
Craig shook his head as he stared at the black precipitate. "You
were perfectly right about the asphyxiation, Doctor," he remarked
slowly, "but wrong as to the cause.
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