TOXICOLOGICAL CHART. 



199 



am not aware that such action has been ob- 

 served in the horse. 



Treatment. — Avoid large quantities of 

 water, as it favors the absorption of the 

 acid. Throw into the stomach a mixture 

 of chalk, or of magnesia and water, partic- 

 ularly the former ; or lime from the walls 

 may be used ; either of which will form an 

 insoluble salt. The alkalies are inadmissi- 

 ble, because they form soluble salts. De- 

 mulcents to be freely employed, and the 

 remaining irritation to be allayed by opium. 



Morbid Appearances. — None recorded 

 in the horse. In other animals the stom- 

 ach has been found to contain black extra- 

 vasated blood, its inner coat being of a 

 cherry -red color; in some places the sur- 

 face is brittle, and the subjacent stratum 

 gelatinized. The intestines are usually in- 

 flamed throughout. When its influence 

 has been through the medium of the blood 

 on remote parts, the heart has been found 

 to have lost its contractility, and to contain 

 arterial blood. 



Tests. — Acid reaction on litmus paper. 

 A concentrated solution with ammonia 

 forms a salt whose crystals radiate, the ox- 

 alate of ammonia. 



Hydro chlorate of Lime throws down a 

 white precipitate which is soluble in nitric 

 acid, the oxalate of lime. 



Sulphate of Copper yields a blue or green- 

 ish-white precipitate, the oxalate of copper. 



Nitrate of Silver causes a dense white 

 precipitate ; also an oxalate which, when 

 dried and heated, fulminates. 



. AGENT. 



ACIDUM ARSENIOSUM. 



Arsenious Acid, 

 White Arsenic. 



Symptoms. — Intense pain, resembling 

 acute enteritis; belly tympanitic, with a 

 rumbling noise in the intestines ; the dejec- 

 tions offensive, and mixed with mucus ; 

 pulse quick and feeble, becoming scarcely 

 perceptible at the jaw ; respiration labori- 

 ous; surface of the body covered with an 

 extremely cold, clammy sweat ; extremities 



cold; efforts to vomit; countenance anx- 

 ious, and indicative of great torture ; mu- 

 cous tissues injected ; mouth hot ; increased 

 secretion of saliva, which is singularly fetid ; 

 delirium from pain which has become con- 

 tinuous; exhaustion; death. The action 

 of this poison is not merely as a local irri- 

 tant, it being often conveyed to remote 

 parts through the medium of the circula- 

 tion, thus causing death. Even as an 

 external applicant it has been known to pro- 

 duce much general derangement of the sys- 

 tem, independent of its influence as an 

 escharotic, which is powerful. On this 

 account, when the methods usually resorted 

 to have failed to demonstrate its existence 

 in the contents of the stomach and intes- 

 tines, Orfila has succeeded in detecting it 

 in the organic tissues, particularly the liver. 

 Treatment. — A free use of diluents, or 

 of lime water ; avoid blood-letting, as this 

 promotes the absorption of the poison ; 

 give large doses of the hydrated peroxide 

 of iron precipitated by ammonia from a 

 solution of the sulphate of iron, so as to 

 forin an insoluble arsenic of iron, which 

 may be expelled by the action of active 

 purgatives. The subsequent inflammation 

 is to be combatted by the ordinary antiphlo- 

 gistic remedies ; while the debility which 

 supervenes, and which is often great, is best 

 counteracted by the vegetable tonics and 

 judicious dieting. 



Morbid Appearances. — The stomach and 

 intestines, especially the latter, highly in- 

 flamed and ulcerated in patches. The 

 cEecum and colon present the most marked 

 action, the villous coat being black from an 

 effusion of altered blood, and the peritoneal 

 tunic involved. Congestion of blood in the 

 lungs, liver, and kidneys ; redness of the 

 lining membrane of the windpipe, extend- 

 ing to the air-passages generally ; conjunc- 

 tival membrane highly injected, and the 

 blood in a fluid state throughout the body. 

 Ecchymosis in the heart. 



Tests. — 1st, by Reduction. — The sus- 

 pected powder, being dried, is to be mixed 

 with twice its weight of newly-burnt and 

 pulverized charcoal, and introduced into a 



