PHAKMACOLOGY OF THALLIUM 
9 
vapors of thallium. Crookes (5^), however, stated that he had not 
been affected by thallium fumes, or by the ingestion of 65 to 130 
milligrams of thallium salts. According to Bullard's report (12), 
-the ingestion of between 130 and 250 grains (of thallium acetate?) 
during a week produced diarrhea, muscular weakness, and tender- 
ness over the nerve trunks. Since, however, both lead and arsenic 
were found in the urine in this case, this result should not be 
ascribed to thallium alone. 
Olmer and Tian report a case in 1908 (Hi) in which the applica- 
tion of a thallium-acetate salve to the chest and thorax of a 27-year- 
old man produced violent pains, especially in the extremities, which 
were increased by pressure on the peripheral nerves ; diffuse alopecia ; 
persistent albuminuria; stomatitis; and general depression. These 
symptoms continued for about a month before remission. The 
cerebrospinal fluid collected 25 days after application of the paste 
showed upon spectroscopic examination the presence of 0.02 milli- 
gram of thallium per liter. 
Buschke, Peiser, and Klopstock (i^) relate that a 34-year-old 
printer attempted suicide by taking 750 milligrams of thallium 
nitrate (10 milligrams per kilo) by mouth. Marked pains in the 
feet and limbs, emesis, and achlorhydria were followed by alopecia 
in 3 weeks. New hair returned in 8 weeks, but 11 weeks were re- 
quired for the return of normal gastric acidity. Slow elimination 
of thallium was also noted in two children. 
Liihrig (101) gives an account of a 2-year-old child who ate an 
undetermined quantity of a thallium paste smeared upon bread 
and exposed as a rat poison. Rapid collapse and vomiting were 
checked temporarily by injections of glucose, but a relapse followed, 
and the child died in 29 hours. Post-mortem examination showed 
nothing abnormal except marked irritation of the stomach and small 
intestines. Spectroscopic examination revealed the presence of thal- 
lium in various tissues. A 4-j^ear-old child ate some of the same 
poisoned bait, but apparently m smaller quantities, as he survived. 
Brieger (11) reports the death of a child in 1927 following the 
consumption of an undetermined quantity of thallium-coated grain, 
which had been mixed with grain treated with strychnine. Strych- 
nine-poisoning symptoms were produced. After death the presence 
of both thallium and strychnine was demonstrated in the viscera. 
The death of children or of adults following the consumption of 
thallium-treated grain or thallium paste exposed as a rat poison has 
been reported only too frequently (^, 76, 82, 99, 126) . Althoff (^) 
reported seven cases of poisoning in one family. Fridli {76) deter- 
mined thallium by titration with potassium iodide. In a case in 
which 2.5 grams of thallium acetate had been taken by mouth, 5 
milligrams of thallium were found in 100 grams of urine; 1.6 
milligrams in 100 grams of kidney ; and 3.3 milligrams in 100 grams 
of liver. The greater part had already been eliminated in the urine. 
A recent case of poisoning by the administration of thallium ace- 
tate has attracted much comment {3, 91, 135), Through a mistake 
in conversion from the metric to the apothecaries' system, 85 milli- 
grams of thallium acetate per kilo were administered instead of 8.5 
37900°— 31 2 
