150 Chittenden and Smith—Absorption of Arsenic by the Brain. 
the list of those which bear testimony to the truth of the above 
theory ; two fatal cases of arsenic poisoning, one of which was caused 
by the white oxide, the other presumably by Paris green or aceto- 
arsenite of copper. 
Case A.—L. K., a middle-aged laboring man, ate for his dinner at 
noon a quantity of bean soup. Almost immediately after, he was 
seized with vomiting and purging, cramps in the legs, and all the 
ordinary symptoms of acute arsenic poisoning. There were no 
marked cerebral symptoms. At 9 Pp. m. of the same day the patient 
died in a condition of collapse, having thus lived nine hours after | 
eating the poisoned soup. An autopsy made the following day by 
Dr. M. C. White of the Yale Medical School, to whose courtesy we 
are indebted for a description of the case, and also for the organs for 
analysis, revealed the following points of interest: “The mucous 
membrane of the stomach was very much inflamed, especially around 
the cardiac orifice. The duodenum was likewise much inflamed, also 
the lower part of the rectum, showing here as a red mottled conges- 
tion. The remaining portions of the intestines were normal. The 
brain showed marked congestion. The kidneys’ were normal in ap- 
pearance, the urinary bladder was nearly empty, and the mucous 
lining somewhat reddened. The lungs were normal, except the 
lower half of the right one, which was a little congested. The heart 
normal; small fibrinous clot in the right ventricle.” In order to 
draw deductions of any value from the distribution of arsenic in 
the body of the deceased we must know positively as to the form in 
which the poison was taken. Fortunately, we were able to obtain 
the residue of the soup eaten by the deceased. Microscopic examina- 
tion of the sediment plainly showed octahedral crystals of arsen- 
ious oxide, and we were able to separate from a small portion of 
the solid residue 24 milligrams of the oxide. Plainly the soup was 
poisoned by simply mixing with it arsenious oxide in substance. 
As to the quantity of arsenic present in the soup we have the follow- 
ing data: 125 ¢. ¢., oxidized with hydrochloric acid and potassium 
chlorate, yielded 314°6 milligrams of arsenious sulphide, equal to 
253°2 milligrams of arsenious oxide. As to the amount taken by the 
deceased we have no knowledge; we infer, however, since the soup 
constituted the main portion of his dinner, that a large quantity was 
eaten, which view we think is substantiated by the intensity of the 
vomiting and purging so characteristic of large doses of the poison. 
Here then, we have an unquestionable case of poisoning with 
arsenious oxide, and under conditions most suitable for rapid absorp- 
ahs AL ana RTRs PF ALT {Every tel 
