416 WALLACE LARKIN CHANDLER 
Weisstein states further that the lethal dose depends on the form in which 
the dose is taken, the condition of the stomach at the time of taking, 
and other factors. 
SEAT OF ACTION OF THE DRUG 
Regarding the specific tissues acted upon by nitrobenzene, there has 
been much speculation. Roth (1918) writes as follows:’ “ The action 
of nitrobenzene depends, as is known, upon blood changes. Hence 
hematological changes have excited the greatest interest, tho in differ- 
ent cases the findings differ greatly.”” Some writers report pronounced 
hemolysis accompanied by leucocytosis, and those who have subjected 
the blood of patients poisoned by nitrobenzene to spectroscopic analysis 
have for the most part found an absorption band occupying nearly the 
same position as the methémoglobin band. Some have regarded this 
band as the methemoglobin band and have concluded that methemoglobin 
is formed in the blood in cases of nitrobenzene poisoning. Others claim 
that the band is distinct from the methemoglobin band and is peculiar 
to nitrobenzene alone. A discussion of these findings appears on a later 
page of this article. The following notes on the observations of blood 
changes in clinical cases may be of interest: 
Roth (1918) reports the case of a woman who drank nitrobenzene to 
produce abortion. Her blood became dark chocolate in color. The red- 
cell count dropped from 4,662,000 to 3,840,000; the hemoglobin dropped 
from 98 to 80 per cent; the number of leucocytes dropped from 16,840 
to 9400; and the lymphocytes rose from 14.4 to 22.3 per cent. There 
was no methemoglobin in the centrifugalized blood serum, but methe- 
moglobin appeared in the red corpuscles. Hence Roth concludes that 
methemoglobin is formed inside the red corpuscles. He thinks that the 
formation of methemoglobin is due to the action of p-aminophenol, formed 
from the nitrobenzene. 
Meyer (1905) reports the case of a patient who took about a teaspoonful 
of nitrobenzene, presumably to produce abortion, on June 15. On the 
16th and 17th of the month the body temperature was 38° C. The red- 
cell count dropped to 2,180,000; the white-cell count dropped to 5200; 
the hemoglobin was 54 per cent. There was no morphological change 
in the red corpuscles. 
7 Translation from the original German. 
y: 
