MINERAL OR INORGANIC POISONS 73 



ulceration of the mucous membrances of stomach and 

 intestines, there is to be observed well-marked fatty de- 

 generation, especially of the liver, of the heart, and even 

 of the skeletal muscles. The liver is friable and yellow 

 with occasionally red patches. The bile ducts may be 

 enlarged so as to obstruct the flow of bile and thus cause 

 jaundice. Perforation of the stomach has been observed 

 in the dog after taking phosphorised oil. The alimentary 

 contents are usually liquid and dark brown in colour, and 

 the intestines often heavily charged with bile. 



Treatment. — The stomach should be emptied, if neces- 

 sary, by the tube. As an emetic copper sulphate is used. 

 It may be repeated as an antidote, being supposed to 

 remove the poison in the form of copper phosphide. A 

 well-known antidote is old — that is, oxidised — French 

 turpentine, but doubt has been recently expressed as to 

 its value. Purgation may assist in the elimination of 

 the poison. Oils promote absorption, and must be 

 avoided. 



In treating the dog give 3-grain doses of copper sulphate 

 in water every five minutes till vomiting is caused. There- 

 after 1-grain doses every quarter of an hour, and if rejected 

 combine this with morphine (Wallis Hoare). 



Chemical Diagnosis. — The garlic odour and luminosity 

 of vomits clearly indicate phosphorus poisoning. In the 

 case of the fowl the crop acts as a storehouse of phos- 

 phorus, which can be detected (as free phosphorus) after 

 death ; but in the dog and cat at the period of death the 

 phosphorus will either have been eliminated or more or 

 less completely oxidised. Material containing free phos- 

 phorus is boiled with water acidulated with dilute sulphuric 

 acid, and the vapour is luminous in the dark if phosphorus 

 is present (Mitscherlich). In a case investigated in the 

 laboratory (1911) a sow had died from phosphorus poison- 

 ing by having eaten the bodies of fowls similarly poisoned. 

 The ingesta of the sow's stomach contained fragments of 

 fowls, and free phosphorus was present in the proportion of 

 ^ grain per ounce of ingesta. The gizzard of one of the 



