CASES OF POISONING. 19 



CASE XI. 



Mr. F. for six years previous to 1886 had occupied a large, sunny room and 

 generally spent sixteen to eighteen hours each day in it. Two or three years 

 before the report of the case several stuffed birds and animals, preserved by the 

 application of arsenious oxid, were placed in the room. The wall paper contained 

 0.073 grain per square yard and the border 0.005 grain. The paper of an adjoin- 

 ing bedroom contained 0.3 grain per square yard. The analysis of the last was 

 made from a sample taken from the wall, with portions of an old, adhering, under- 

 lying paper. Mr. F. for nine months previous to April, 1886, noticed perceptibly 

 a train of nervous disturbances, as occasional attacks of dizziness and unsteadi- 

 ness, a feeling of depression, and loss of muscular power. He suffered also from a 

 constant coryza and dry cough. He had no gastric or intestinal disturbance. The 

 presence of the birds suggested a possible explanation of the symptoms; 1,500 cc 

 of urine were analyzed April 12, 1886, and contained 0.03 mg arsenious oxid per 

 liter. The birds were removed and the walls and room cleaned, but the papers 

 were left on the walls. April 26, 1,350 cc showed 0.026 mg per liter. Mr. F. 

 improved in general health after removal of the birds, but the elimination of 

 arsenic was apparently slow. June 14, Mr. F. began to take 5 grains potassic 

 iodide three times daily, which seemed, as in the above cases of Lorinzer and 

 Miiller, slightly to increase the elimination, as on June 21 the amount from 1,320 

 cc was at the rate of 0.006 mg per liter. Yet on July 16 there was still a trace, 

 1,270 cc giving 0.002 mg per liter. This is possibly explained by the presence 

 of the wall papers or by the fact that the carpets had not been shaken. The 

 iodide was discontinued, and Mr. F. went away for two months, returning feeling 

 very well physically, the symptoms alluded to having mainly disappeared. 



CASE XII. 



Doctor G. had a paiient who, he said, suffered from malarial toxaemia. This 

 patient was medicated with quinine, but the symptoms still persisted. The patient 

 was then placed upon the solution of potassium arsenite, 3 drops three times a 

 day. The first dose aggravated the symptoms to such an extent that the physician 

 became alarmed and brought the vial to me for analysis. Analysis proved the 

 contents of the vial to be standard United States Pharmacopeia solution of potas- 

 sium arsenite. During the conversation I elicited the fact that a sojourn over the 

 lake for a day or two was quite sufficient to ameliorate the symptoms without the 

 use of medicine. I suggested that the cause might be chronic arsenical poisoning, 

 and recommended that the wall paper be analyzed. The paper contained 4.5 

 grains of arsenic per square foot. 



The objectionable paper was removed, other paper that was nonarsenical in 

 character was hung instead, and the patient rapidly recovered from her ailment, 

 has not been away from the city, and has occupied the same sleeping room since. & 



CASE XIII. 



Charles W. was born August 15, 1900, about three weeks premature; he was the 

 first child and weighed about 5 pounds. He was normal at birth, but an hour or 

 two later became blue and collapsed. As it was warm weather he was not placed 

 in an incubator, but was put at once into his baby basket. This was lined with 

 blue sateen and had a canopy of the same material. He was fed from the beginning 

 on modified milk * * *. Although the heart was examined repeatedly noth- 



Sanger, Case 5, loc. cit. 

 b Trans, of the La. State Med. Soc., New Orleans, 1898, p. 118, Case 3. 



