SANGER. — CHRONIC ARSENICAL POISONING. 149 



I was about to present the results I had so far obtained, as my nega- 

 tive experiments on the decomposition of arsenical organic matter by 

 mould had enabled me, as I thought, to suggest a possible explanation 

 of the source of wall paper poisoning, if we had to rely on arsenical 

 dust alone as a mode of causation. 



The same reasons that led to my postponing the publication of that 

 paper have delayed the appearance of this, and the later results of 

 the former investigation have given a far closer insight into this much 

 vexed question. 



I propose first to give the record of cases that I have found which 

 include analytical work, then the cases that came to my notice in 

 which analytical results on wall paper and urine may be compared, and 

 then to discuss the cause of wall paper poisoning in the light of the 

 chemical and biological facts brought out both by this paper and the 

 foregoing. 



I have hesitated to introduce the medical side of the cases, but have 

 considered it necessary to the completeness of the paper. The cases 

 are stated, however, either as I found them or as they were given to 

 me. I have further endeavored not to venture any opinion but what 

 might be advanced from the chemical evidence. Whatever may be 

 said of the suggestions offered, the facts are laid before the medical 

 profession for its information and consideration. 



Historical. 



Previous to 1886, the cases of chronic poisoning from wall paper 

 in which arsenic has been found in the urine are as follows. 



Lorinzer* of Vienna, in 1859, gives the following cases, the analy- 

 tical work being done by Kletzinsky : — 



1. A girl of seventeen had occupied for two years a room of which 

 the walls were colored by Mitis green. The symptoms were loss of 

 appetite, headache, nausea, unquiet sleep, pains in the shoulder, erup- 

 tion in the knee joint, constipation. The patient was always pale, 

 with sunken cheeks and dark rings under the eyes. She was removed 

 to another room and given potassic iodide, six grains daily, with warm 

 bath twice a week. In two months she was restored to her normal 

 health. The urine was not examined for arsenic. 



2. A woman fifty-four years old had occupied for some years a 

 room which was found to have a paint or wash containing quantities 



* Wiener Med. Wochenschrift, 1859, Heften 43 and 44. 



