274 Veteri7iary Medicine. 



decoctions of oak bark, oak galls, catechu, kino, rumex, sumac, 

 or even strong tea will serve to render it insoluble and non- 

 irritant. 



POISONING BY CORROSIVE SALTS OF MERCURY. 



Calomel willi muriatic acid, corrosive sublimate, mercuric chloride, 

 iodide, nitrate, cyanide. Fatal dose. Symptoms : anorexia, salivation, 

 thirst, emesis, colic, diarrhoea, rumbling, debility, tremors, stupor, death. 

 Lesions : corrosive whitening of gastro-intestinal mucosa, congestion, 

 ulceration, blackening, bloody, glairy ingesta. Treatment : albumen, 

 emesis, demulcents, chlorate of potash, bitters, iron sulphate. Test : cop- 

 per and muriatic acid. 



Calomel in itself cannot be looked on as corrosive, but in 

 ruminants in which it is retained in the s\stem for 3 or 4 days it 

 is largely resolved into mercuric chloride by the free ga.stric acid 

 and alkaline chlorides. It has therefore l)een largely excluded 

 from the materia medica of these animals. When in these or 

 other animals it produces corrosive action, the operation is essen- 

 tially that of corrosive sublimate. 



The corrosive salts of mercury likely to be taken by animals 

 are corro.sive sublimate now so largelj' used as an antiseptic, the 

 nitrates and iodides, and cyanides of mercury used as local appli- 

 cations or as antiseptics. 



Mercuric chloride may be taken as the type. It has proved 

 fatal to the hor.se in a dose of 2 drs. ; to the ox in i to 2 drs. ; to 

 the dog in doses of 4 to 6 grs. 



Symptoms. Eoss of appetite, salivation, thirst, emesis in vom- 

 iting animals, colics, diarrhoea, often bloody, weak perhaps im- 

 perceptible pulse, hurried breathing, much rumbling of the abdo- 

 men, debility, trembling, .stupor and death. 



Lesions. Escharotic whitening in patches of the mucosa of the 

 mouth, throat, gullet, .stomach and intestines, with acute conges- 

 tion, ulceration and ecchymosis, and sometimes blackening by the 

 formation of the sulphide. The contents of the bowels may be 

 serous or bloody and more or less glairy. Like arsenic, mercuric 

 chloride concentrates its action on the intestinal canal by what- 

 ever channel it maj^ have entered the body. 



