MALT LIQUORS. 299 



oral cases of poisoning with one or qfcker of tlioso agents have occurred, we are able 

 to trace the toxic manifestation-?. Along with an intensification of the symptoms 

 already mentioned there ara ptosis, deafness, strabismus, mydriasis, disturbance of 

 respiration, excessive restlessness passing into delirium, slow laboring pnlse, olive- 

 green urine, and involuntary evacuations. In some cases the temperature has re- 

 mained about normal, but in others has approached that of collapse. T he respiration 

 seems to be characteristic, it bsing bath quickened and deepened, often sighing. 

 Sweating is usually very free, and the urine early becomes albuminous. Various 

 local evidences of vaso-motor weakness may supervene, such as rapidly-appearing 

 bed-sores at points subjected to pressure, and transitory dark colored macul;e on 

 various parts of the body. In several cases death was probably produced by the 

 acid, although there is scarcely one instance which is beyond doubt. 1 In certain 

 cases the mental disturbance has been strangely prolonged, lasting for eight days. 

 In some instances it is cheerful, in others melancholic in type. It is stated that upou 

 drunkards the acid acts very unfavorably, violent delirium being an early symptom 

 of its influence. 



By the same authority the dose of salicylic acid to be employed in 

 cases of acute rheumatism is given as one dram (3.9 grams) in twenty- 

 four hours. It is excreted chiefly by the kidneys and may be detected 

 in the urine very soon after its ingestion. Authorities in therapeutics 

 warn practitioners of medicine against its administration to patients 

 whose kidneys are known to be diseased, and of late years the opinion 

 has been growing among physicians that it has a very irritating action 

 upon these organs, many preferring the alkaline treatment of rheu- 

 matic fever on this account. 



USE AS A PRESERVATIVE. 



The "salicylic-acid question,' 1 as it is called, has received a great deal 

 of attention for several years in Europe, and much has been written, 

 pro and con, on the question of the propriety of its us e as a preserving 

 agent in articles of food and drink. In France its use as a preservative 

 in any form of food or drink was forbidden by ministerial decree on the 

 7th of February, 1881. This decree was based upon a decision of the 

 consulting committee of hygiene that its constant use was dangerous 

 to health. 



In Germany its use is prohibited, except in beers intended for ex- 

 port to other countries where its use is allowed. 



Its prohibition in France called forth a great deal of opposition, and 

 experiments were made and published, which were intended to show 

 that its constant use in small doses exerted no injurious influence upon 

 the system. Kolbe himself made experiments upon himself and his 

 assistants by taking doses of .5 to 1.0 gram daily for several days, and 

 found no appreciable ill effects to follow its use. z Whether such ex- 



1 In the case recorded in the Virginia Medical Monthly, June, 1877, forty -eight 

 grains of the acid were taken in four hours. The symptoms were violent vomiting, 

 headache, total unconsciousness, with stertorous breathing. Death occurred forty 

 hours after the first dose. 



2 Jour. prak. Chem. 13, 108. Reference may be made to similar experiments, as fol- 

 lows: J. A. Barral, Jour, do 1'Agriculture, 1332, 69. M. Bias, Bull, de 1'Acad. Royale 

 do IM^d. do Belgique. Bd. 12, No. 9. 



