442 Slow, Consecutive, and Accumulative Poisoning. [June, 



sibility of the digestive organs became excessive, and two 

 months after the accident she experienced a sudden shock and 

 died. Mr. Tartra, in observing upon cases of this kind, asserts 

 that the symptoms produced at first by the nitric acid decrease 

 insensibly ; and that at the end of a certain period, the internal 

 membrane of the digestive canal is struck with death, and 

 thrown off, and the person dies of a marasmus. Fordyce* relates 

 the case of a woman who was subject to cholics for the space of 

 thirty years, in consequence of having once taken an infusion of 

 the pulp of colocynth prepared with beer. This was undoubtedly 

 an extraordinary instance of idiosyncrasy, but it is probable that 

 some organic lesion was occasioned by its operation, to which 

 the subsequent suffering is to be referred. We have hitherto 

 only considered the effects that may arise from the ingestion of 

 a single dose of poison, but there are numerous and very interest- 

 ing cases in which fatal results have been produced by the repe- 

 tition of small doses at various intervals. We therefore propose 

 a third, and new subdivision of our subject, viz. 



3. Accumulative Poisoning. — By the repeated administration 

 of a substance in doses, of which no single one could occasion 

 harm; but which, by gradually accumulating in the system, 

 ultimately occasions disease and death. 



The familiar operation of mercury will at once suggest itself 

 to the physician, as a striking illustration of that species of 

 poisoning which we have ventured to name Accumulative, and 

 to the forensic student the effects of this metal, in reference to 

 such a quality, will form a more than ordinary object of interest, 

 as involving questions which have frequently embarrassed judi- 

 cial inquiry ; as, for instance, Whether it can lie dormant any 

 considerable time without betraying its effects upon the consti- 

 tution, and, having displayed its powers, and the symptoms 

 having subsided, viz. salivation, £cc. Whether they can be 

 renewed without a fresh application of the substance ? See 

 Corrosive Sublimate. 



To how many substances this power of accumulation extends 

 is at present not well understood. It may occur in those that 

 act by absorption, and in those whose action is wholly local. 

 Arsenic, digitalis, and several of the narcotic plants, as hemlock, 

 may undoubtedly occasion serious mischief in this manner, as 

 the author has more fully explained in another work,f and we 

 have lately heard of several fatal cases arising from accumulated 

 masses of magnesia in the prima via, from the habitual use of 

 small doses of that earth. 



The history of many of the arts, especially those of metallurgy, 

 would furnish also abundant examples of this kind of poisoning. 



These few facts are, we trust, sufficient to authorise the fore- 

 going arrangement, and we apprehend that the adoption of the 



" Fragments Chirurg. et Med. p. 66. 

 t Pharmacologia, fifth edit. vol. i. p. 324. 



