414 Foreign and Miscellaneous Intelligence. 



5. POISONING BY THE (SEBACIC) ACID OF GOOSE-GREASE. 



On the 2d of April, 1829, Dr. Siedler was called to attend 



MM. H , and their children. On his arrival he found the two 



brothers H , one aged thirty-one, the second twenty-eight years, 



and the two children of the first, one a girl set. four, the other a boy 

 set. two and a half, all presenting the following symptoms, cold 

 sweat, anxiety, vertigo, general paleness and prostration of strength, 

 eyes sunken, and pupils dilated ; burning pain was felt in the lower 

 part of the belly, increased by pressure ; violent vomiting succeeded 

 by ardent thirst, for which the patients had drunk large quantities of 

 milk, which was thrown up without producing any effect ; tongue 

 dry, involuntary discharge of urine and faeces. 



The eldest brother was insensible for six minutes ; his respiration 

 was scarcely visible, his pulse imperceptible, and the heart's action 

 exceedingly weak. The second brother had vomited blood several 

 times, but he experienced less abdominal pain than the other. In 

 the little boy the globes of the eyes were turned upwards, the lips 

 livid, and the pulse scarcely sensible. Lastly, the symptoms in the 

 little girl were the mildest of all. M. Siedler suspected at once that 

 these accidents were occasioned by the use of a certain quantity of 

 goose-grease, which had been employed in the preparation of some 

 meat, of which the four patients had eaten shortly before the symp- 

 toms began. An emulsion, containing hyoscyamus, was prescribed, 

 and on the 9th of April all had recovered. 



The vomited matters were subjected to chemical analysis : they 

 were strongly acid, but contained no metallic poison : but the follow- 

 ing facts induced Dr. Siedler to attribute the illness to the effect of 

 sebacic acid. The lady of the house had made use of goose-grease 

 to dress some veal, and all the persons who partook of the dish fell 

 quickly sick. The lady herself, who had barely tasted .it, felt it so 

 disagreeable, that she took no more. None of the grease which 

 was suspected to have caused the accident remained for examination, 

 the pot which contained it having been entirely emptied and cleaned 

 out ; but on examining the same kind of grease contained in three 

 other pots, it was found to exhale a strong repulsive odour, and it 

 reddened strongly blue paper tinged by turnsole. Three ounces of 

 this grease were given to a vigorous, well-formed dog : an hour after, 

 his extremities became violently convulsed ; he cried piteously, he 

 refused to eat, his eyes were suffused, pupils dilated, skin cold, and 

 arterial pulsations scarcely perceptible. In this state he continued 

 for thirty hours, after which he slowly recovered*. 



6. INFLUENCE OF ATMOSPHERIC ELECTRICITY ON THE EYES. 

 We see peculiar appearances in weak and morbidly sensitive eyes 

 before the breaking out of a violent storm, showing the positive 

 influence of an atmosphere which has now attained its maximum of 



* Hufeland's Journal. 



