APPENDIX. liii 



The action of arsenic upon the human system is poisonous, 

 no matter how it may find entrance, whether through the skin, 

 wounds, the respiratory organs or the alimentary tract. Nor are 

 the symptoms essentially different, whatever its manner of en- 

 trance. Thus, when applied outwardly to an abraded surface, it 

 exerts a specific action upon the mucous membrane of the stomach. 

 Hunter found that the stomach of a dog was considerably inflamed 

 in an experiment in which he applied arsenic to a wound, the 

 animal dying within twenty-four hours. In other cases, upon 

 applying a bandage to prevent the dog licking the arsenic from 

 the wound, Brodie found that the inflammation in the stomach was 

 more acute and more immediate than when the poison was taken 

 internally. 



The curious fact that the mucous membrane of the stomach 

 inflames when arsenic is absorbed from a cutaneous surface or 

 from a wound is explained by the absorption of the arsenic into 

 the blood and its separation from the blood by the mucous mem- 

 brane of the stomach, the arsenic in its passage exerting an irritant 

 action. 



According to Blyth, a quack applied an arsenical caustic to a 

 chronic ulcer, with the result that the patient was seized with 

 symptoms of violent poisoning, and died six days after the appli- 

 cation. Blyth says such fatalities ai-e frequent. 



The injurious effects produced by the absorption of poisons 

 through the pores of the skin are well known to toxicologists and 

 to the medical fraternity. Cases where sudden death has been 

 caused by the cutaneous absorption of deadly mineral or vegetable 

 poisons are on record. A case is mentioned by Blyth of a woman 

 aged fifty-one years, who died after a protracted illness, the result 

 of using a solution of arsenious acid to cure the itch.* Less 

 serious attacks of poisoning are not very uncommon among those 

 who use arsenic, while continued exposure to the influences of 

 mineral poisons often produces symptoms of chronic poisoning. 



" The arsenical pigments more frequently give rise to external 

 local eruptions and chronic poisoning than to acute poisoning." f 



The first symptoms of chronic arsenical poisoning result from 

 the local action of the arsenic. Externally they consist of cutane- 

 ous irritations, eruptions and even ulcers on the various exposed 

 portions of the body. The eruption of the face is sometimes 

 so serious as to render the victim unrecognizable. Inflammation 



• " Poisons, their Effect and Detection," A. W. Blyth. 



t " Reference Handbook of Medical Science," Vol. I, page 344. 



