Experimental Tri-Nitro-Toluene Poisoning. 135 



Feeding, inunction, and subcutaneous injections have resulted 

 regularly in a more or less chronic state of poisoning ending in 

 death. The rapidity with which toxic symptoms appear and the 

 duration of life depend apparently on both the quantity of poison 

 given and the frequency and method of administration. Skin 

 inunction has so far given most constant results. 



Symptoms observed: (1) Vomiting; seen only in feeding cases; 

 apparently due to direct irritation of the stomach by the poison ; 

 (2) diarrhea; frequently present, its occurrence is not related to 

 any particular method of administration; (3) depression, surli- 

 ness, weakness, and emaciation, very marked in later stages; (4) 

 leucocytosis. In one case a slight relative increase in lympho- 

 cytes, polychromasia, and nucleated R. B. C. (megaloblasts) was 

 noted. 



Autopsy findings: Heart, lungs, and gastro-intestinal tract 

 negative. Liver showed grossly either no change or the picture 

 of a moderate chronic passive congestion with lobules dark red in 

 center and pale in periphery. Isolated yellowish, opaque nodules 

 were sometimes seen scattered throughout the organ. Micro- 

 scopically, a moderate central degeneration of the liver cells with 

 congestion of the capillaries about the efferent veins was found. 

 Fatty changes were demonstrable here and there, but the lesion 

 was not uniformly distributed. In one case there were nodules 

 of liver cells comprising several lobules, showing extreme fat 

 accumulation. In the bone marrow, lymph nodes, and spleen there 

 was an increased amount of blood pigment lying free in the tissues 

 and in large phagocytic cells. 



The outstanding feature of the autopsy findings is the absence 

 of lesions which would explain the death of the animal. The 

 changes in the liver, while definite and perhaps significant, are 

 not comparable to those found in cases of toxic jaundice in human 

 beings, where the destruction of liver tissue is as extreme as in 

 acute yellow atrophy. 



