232 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



In the same way as the action of the cobra-poison was a mystery 

 to the animal, an epidemic of typhoid fever was formerly to us a mys- 

 terious occurrence for which no reason could be assigned, but we now 

 trace it to the absorption into the bodies of the sufferers of typhoid 

 poison introduced from without. We are now completely alive to the 

 important results produced by the absorption from the intestinal canal 

 of poisonous matters, such as typhoid-germs, arsenic, or strychnine 

 introduced into it from without. But perhaps we are not yet suffi- 

 ciently alive to the important results produced by the absorption from 

 the intestinal canal of substances generated in it by fermentation or 

 imperfect digestion. We recognize the danger of breathing gas from 

 a sewer, but probably we do not sufficiently realize that noxious gases 

 may be produced in the intestine, and, being absorbed from it into the 

 circulation, may produce symptoms of poisoning. And yet we know, 

 from recorded observations, that such is the case, and that one at least 

 of the chief components of sewer-gas, viz., sulphuretted hydrogen, may 

 be produced in the intestine. This gas, which is so readily recognized 

 by its smell resembling rotten eggs, was found by Dumarquay * to be 

 very quickly absorbed indeed from the intestine when injected into 

 the rectum, and to be quickly excreted from the lungs, sometimes ap- 

 pearing to produce, during its elimination, some inflammation of the tra- 

 chea and bronchi. This was especially the case when small quantities 

 were injected, and it seems not improbable that the production of this 

 gas in the intestine may have something to do with the bronchitis 

 which is not unfrequently observed in connection with digestive dis- 

 turbance. In cases of indigestion this gas seems to be not unfre- 

 quently formed, because persons often complain of the taste of rotten 

 eggs in the mouth or in the eructations. Even in such small quanti- 

 ties it is not improbable that it may exert a deleterious influence both 

 upon the nervous system and upon the blood, for it is a powerful 

 poison, in its action somewhat resembling hydrocyanic acid, though 

 not so strong. It destroys ferments, and robs the blood-corpuscles and 

 the seeds and roots of plants of their power to decompose peroxide of 

 hydrogen ; and, as this faculty seems to be closely associated with the 

 processes of life, the sulphuretted hydrogen may be regarded as a 

 powerful protoplasmic poison. Upon plants it has a curious action, 

 differing very markedly from sulphurous acid. When plants are ex- 

 posed to sulphurous acid, the leaves shrivel up, wither, and fall off, 

 but, if the plant be now removed from the noxious influence of the 

 gas and placed under favorable conditions, it will recover and send 

 out fresh shoots. But, if it be exposed to the action of sulphuretted 

 hydrogen, the leaves, instead of shriveling, simply begin to look flac- 

 cid, and droop. This seems, at first sight, to be a less deadly action 

 than that of the sulphurous acid, but when the leaves have once begun 

 to droop in this way the plant is dead, and does not recover when re- 



* " Comptes Rendus," ix, p. 724. 



