246 INORGANIC AGENTS 



the air. The normal sulphates are absent in the urine following car- 

 bolic acid poisoning. 



Toxicology. — Carbolic acid ranks, as one of the most powerful poi- 

 sons — together with prussic acid, aconite and nitrobenzol — in existence. 

 Several cases of death in man have occurred after the ingestion of one- 

 half ounce of carbolic acid; and the smallest fatal human dose on record 

 appears to be about one dram. One or two drams are fatal to dogs, and 

 a dose as small as 15 grains is said to have paused the death of a dog, 

 while the lethal amount for the horse is about one ounce. Many cases 

 of accidental poisoning have occurred from absorption of phenol when 

 applied externally for surgical purposes in dressings or solutions upon 

 raw surfaces. The symptoms are the same as when absorption occurs 

 from the digestive tract. Extensive gangrene, after continuous treatment 

 with moist carbolic applications, is occasionally seen. Dogs and cats 

 are particularly susceptible to the action of phenol. The milder symp- 

 toms of poisoning include dulness, loss of appetite, muscular weakness 

 and trembling and dark-colored urine having the odor of carbolic acid. 

 After lethal doses death may be instantaneous through respiratory ar- 

 rest, the heart continuing to beat for' a time. The more ordinary symp- 

 toms of severe poisoning in all animals are: trembling, rarely vomiting 

 and purging, restlessness, salivation, loss of muscular power (animal 

 reels and falls) , diminution of sensibility, anesthesia, dyspnea; the 

 breathing is rapid, shallow and stertorous; the pulse is weak, irregular, 

 and usually frequent ; the temperature is lowered, and there are the 

 usual symptoms of collapse, with insensibility, coma, loss of reflex ac- 

 tion, general paralysis, occasional convulsions and death. Sometimes 

 hematuria, albuminuria and hemoglobinuria have been observed. The 

 condition resembles apoplexy, but the mucous membrane of the mouth is 

 stained white in patches after ingestion of pure acid, dark with crude 

 acid, and the odor of the poison lingering about the animal, together 

 with the dark, green-colored urine, is characteristic of phenol poison- 

 ing. The urine may be clear when first voided, but becomes dark on 

 standing. 



The absence of carbolic acid in the urine affords certain evidence 

 that the case is not one of poisoning by this drug. Post-mortem exami- 

 nation reveals hard, whitish or brownish or black patches and sloughs 

 upon the mucous membrane of the mouth, gullet, stomach, and even the 

 small intestines. The blood is dark from asphyxia, and imperfectly 

 coagulated. There is occasionally fatty degeneration of the liver and 

 kidneys. The odor of the acid remains not longer than twenty-four 

 hours. 



Both horses and dogs are very susceptible to phenol poisoning, where 

 the whole body is bathed in more than a one per cent, solution as is 

 sometimes done for lice or mite infestation. Such should receive atropine 

 hypodermically. 



Treatment. — Unfortunately there is no satisfactory antidote for 

 phenol. Emetics are usually valueless on account of the anesthetic con- 

 dition of the mucous membrane of the stomach. We use, therefore, the 



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