Toxic Action of Dichlorethylsulphide. 143 



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The toxic action of dichlorethylsulphide (" mustard gas "). 



By Aldred Scott Warthin and Carl Vernon Weller. 



[From the Pathological Laboratory, University of Michigan, Ann 

 Arbor, Michigan.] 



The investigations recorded in these two papers are founded 

 upon numerous series of animal experimentations and also clinical 

 observations of human mustard gassing. 



1. Local Action: Skin. — Dichlorethylsulphide ("mustard gas"), 

 in liquid or in vapor form, even in very low concentrations, is 

 an escharotic poison for the animal tissues (skin, conjunctivae, 

 cornea, mucous membranes of respiratory and gastrointestinal 

 tracts) with which it comes in direct contact. The degree of the 

 injury is proportionate to the concentration of the gas, the time 

 of exposure, individual susceptibility, and local physical condi- 

 tions, such as moisture, sweating, warmth, pressure and friction. 

 The escharotic action is, for the greater part, painless, the anes- 

 thetic effect being especially notable upon the skin; while upon 

 the mucous membranes its action may be more irritant, probably 

 chiefly reflex in character. The cutaneous surfaces most sus- 

 ceptible are those with thinner, more delicate skin, well supplied 

 with sweat glands and hair follicles, where sweat may collect, 

 and which are exposed to friction or pressure, such as the axillae, 

 flexor surfaces, genitals, inner surface of arms and corresponding 

 surface of trunk, inner surfaces of thighs, between the fingers, etc. 

 There is a penetration of the gas into the sweat and sebaceous 

 glands, and a re-solution of mustard gas vapor into the sweat or 

 sebum occurs. The injuries are particularly striking in their 

 insidious, slowly progressive development, becoming first apparent 

 only some hours after the exposure. Upon human skin the lesion 

 appears as a hyperemia, followed by vesication, eschar formation, 

 sloughing and slow healing, with more or less pigmentation. 

 Depilation may occur; in severe cases the eschar may extend 

 entirely through the corium into the subcutaneous tissues. Sec- 

 ondary infection and gangrene of the eschars occur invariably 



