276 CHRONIC ARSENICAL POISONING 



six to thirty hours. Dogs receiving a quarter of a grain to a 

 grain, repeated twice daily, and continued during eight to 

 fourteen days, exhibit gradually diminishing appetite and 

 increased vomiting. From the sixth to the tenth day, 

 diarrhoea, lowered temperature, rapid emaciation, and pain- 

 ful cough ensue, and death occurs in twenty to thirty days. 

 Half an ounce of Fowler's solution injected into the jugular 

 vein of a dog, although it caused immediate vomiting, 

 proved fatal in eighteen hours, and left the stomach and 

 intestines reddened and injected. Kossel gave sodium 

 arsenite to dogs in doses of 1J to 3 grains for ten days, and 

 found that the amount of nitrogen excreted rose, even in 

 inanition, to 48 and 60 grains, and in healthy dogs receiving 

 arsenic reached 110 to 120 grains. 



Pigs have been poisoned by 1 to 15 grains, and poultry by 

 half a grain to a grain. 



Chronic arsenical poisoning, with symptoms of indigestion, 

 thirst, wasting, and chronic disease of the bones and joints, 

 is sometimes met with amongst both cattle and horses near 

 the tin and copper smelting works of Cornwall and Wales. 

 Arsenical green paper left in the way of animals has some- 

 times been eaten in quantities sufficient to cause death. 

 Rabbits at shows have been destroyed by nibbling the bright 

 green prize cards. An aged donkey is reported to have died 

 in three hours, poisoned by eating green paper. 



The post-mortem appearances of poisoning by arsenic, 

 although very similar in all animals, differ with the con- 

 centration of the poison and the severity and duration of the 

 case. In the horse the cuticular portion of the stomach is 

 not usually much altered ; but the villous portion is intensely 

 inflamed, especially if the drug has been given in powder. 

 The mucous membrane is softened, easily separated, and 

 sometimes eroded or perforated. Except in rapidly fatal 

 cases, patches of inflammation with extravasation will be 

 found in the small intestine, colon, and rectum. The serous 

 membranes are ecchymosed. In chronic cases fatty de- 

 generation affects the epithelial tissues, liver, heart muscle, 

 and brain, and owing to the antiseptic power of the drug 

 cadaveric changes are retarded. In most cases the lesions 

 are fairly characteristic ; but the discovery of arsenic in the 



