652 [May 7, 



by the workmen, and cause distressing headache and a heavy, sleepy 

 sensation. For the most part these effects are not serious, but are 

 quickly relieved by fresh air and a mild stimulant, as a glass of 

 brandy and water. Now and then, however, the workmen, from 

 carelessness in their habits, expose themselves to the action of com- 

 paratively large quantities of these poisons, and then the effects are 

 most dangerous. Two fatal cases of poisoning by nitrobenzole have 

 been referred to me by the coroner for investigation during the last 

 two years, and in both instances they were the results of careless 

 manipulation. In one case a man, forty-three years of age, spilt a 

 quantity of the liquid over the front of his clothes, and he went 

 about for several hours in an atmosphere saturated with the poison. 

 In the other a boy, aged seventeen years, received a little of the 

 liquid into his mouth while sucking at a siphon. The eifects were 

 nearly the same in both cases, notwithstanding that in one the poison 

 was inhaled, and in the other it was swallowed. For some time there 

 was no feeling of discomfort beyond that of drowsiness ; gradually, 

 however, the face became flushed, the expression stupid, and the gait 

 unsteady the sufferers had the appearance of persons who had been 

 drinking. Little by little this stupor increased, until it passed into 

 profound coma, and in this condition they died. The progress of 

 each case was much the same as that of slow intoxication, excepting 

 that the mind was perfectly clear until the coming on of the fatal 

 coma. This was sudden, like a fit of apoplexy ; and from that 

 moment there was no return of consciousness or of bodily power 

 the sufferer lay as if in a deep sleep, and died without a struggle. 

 The duration of each case was nearly the same ; about four hours 

 elapsed from the time of taking or inhaling the poison to the setting 

 in of the coma, and the coma lasted for about five hours. 



After death there were no appearances of convulsion, but rather of 

 narcotism and apoplexy. The face was flushed ; the lips were livid ; 

 the superficial vessels of the body, especially about the throat and 

 arms, were gorged with blood ; the dependent parts were turgid ; 

 the blood was everywhere black and fluid ; the lungs were somewhat 

 congested ; the cavities of the heart were full ; the liver was of a 

 purple colour, and the gall-bladder distended with bile ; the brain 

 and its membranes were turgid, and in the case of the man there was 

 much bloody serosity in the ventricles. Analysis discovered the 



