PHYSIOLOGICAL ACTION OF NITROBENZENE VAPOR ON ANIMALS 417 
Massini (1910-11) cites two cases. The first is that of a man thirty 
years old, a worker in a chemical laboratory, who on November 30 drank 
by mistake 30 mils of nitrobenzene. Vomiting was at once induced by 
giving 14 grams of copper sulfate in 50 mils of water. The color of the 
blood was dark brown until December 3. The red-cell count had dropped 
to 1,800,000 by December 9, but returned to normal by January 11. 
The white-cell count was 22,400 on December 7, and 6800 on January 11. 
The lymphocytes rose from 22.5 per cent on December 2 to 41.7 per cent 
on December 26. The polymorphonuclears dropped from 76.8 per cent 
on December 11 to 54.7 per cent on December 26. 
The second case cited by Massini is one of chronic poisoning in a man 
thirty years old, who worked in a room with nitrobenzene. He was poorly . 
nourished, the color of his skin was blue-gray, the spleen was enlarged, 
the urime was very dark, and urobilin was detected by spectroscopic 
analysis. The man was admitted to the hospital on June 4. The red- 
cell count was then 2,500,000, but it had risen to 4,300,000 by June 29. 
The white-cell count was 6000 on June 4, had risen to 8400 by June 8, 
and had dropped to 3800 by June 24. A microscopic examination of the 
blood revealed embryonal forms. 
Bondi (1894) reports the case of a man twenty-five years old, who 
drank a ‘‘mandel liqueur’ at nine o’clock in the evening. He was 
admitted to the hospital at four o’clock in the afternoon of the following 
day. The red-cell count was 6,340,000, the white-cell count 16,000; 
there was no methemoglobin; the hemoglobin was 112 per cent. Only 
one examination was made. 
EXPERIMENTAL CASES OF POISONING 
The literature dealing with experiments on animals is not very consider- 
able. Only twice have intensive experiments been carried on, by Letheby 
(1865) and by Filehne (1878). It may therefore be well to include here 
a short abstract of the literature dealing with the subject from the experi- 
mental side. 
The first experiment recorded was conducted by Jones (1857). He 
gave one dram of nitrobenzene to a rabbit, and reports that the rabbit 
was killed instantly. One-half dram of nitrobenzene in two drams of 
water, given internally, killed a cat within twelve hours. This writer 
gives no reference to earlier works, nor does he describe the symptoms 
