PHARMACOLOGY OF THALLIUM 
5 
with eventual recovery. This led Paulet {117) to the conclusion 
that thallium was more toxic than lead. 
In Blake's {9) experiments in 1890, 90 milligrams of thallium 
sulphate, intravenously injected into the jugular vein of a rabbit, 
stopped the pulmonary circulation for a few seconds, and a second 
dose killed; injected into the carotid artery, doses up to 350 milli- 
grams were apparently inactive, but 750 milligrams killed by stop- 
page of pulmonary circulation. Small doses of thallium salts were 
tolerated for some time, but the effects were cumulative. Impair- 
ment of appetite, emesis, and diarrhea, followed by obstinate con- 
stipation, hemorrhages, tremors, lack of muscular coordination, 
conjunctivitis, general debility, and depression of respiration and 
circulation, were produced in animals. Post-mortem examination 
showed effusions of blood into the lungs, congestion of the gastro- 
intestinal tract, pericardial effusions and ecchymoses of the surface 
of the heart. Thallium was eliminated in all secretions. 
Jones {89) demonstrated the presence of thallium in the urine of 
rabbits two hours after oral administration. There is no known 
antidote, according to Marme {105). Rabuteau {12J/,) show^ed in 
1874 that the muscles would not respond to stimuli after death from 
thallium. Curci's {55) experiments revealed that circulation and 
respiration were both depressed in frogs; in warm-blooded animals, 
weakness and collapse were produced, the pulse w^as slowed, and the 
blood pressure increased. 
Kobert {93) reports Luck's experiments {100) in which the flesh 
of a hen poisoned by thallium was fed to 11 rats, all of which died. 
Cats fed the same vomited, but survived. Spitzer {139) killed rats 
in four days by the application of a paste containing 5 per cent of 
thallium ; a 20 per cent salve killed in two days. Local applications 
did not cause loss of hair. Cataracts were produced in these animals. 
An intensive study of the action of thallous acetate, nitrate, and 
sulphate was reported by Swain and Bateman {HI) in 1909. The 
thallous salts were prepared directly from metallic thallium, and all 
thallic compounds removed. All results are reported in terms of the 
metal thallium, regardless of the salt actuall}?- injected. The lethal 
dose of thallium as the acetate injected directly into the lymph sac 
of the back of 300-gram toads was approximately 16.7 milligrams 
per kilogram of body weight. Death from respiratory failure fol- 
low^ed loss of control of the hind legs. 
A toadfish (Porichthys) weighing between 30 and 50 grams died 
within 50 hours in a 1 : 2,500 solution of thallium as the chloride (400 
milligrams X3er liter) after exhibiting signs of respiratory distress. 
Another toadfish died in 53 hours, after two days' contact with the 
same solution. A concentration of 800 milligrams per liter caused 
death in 20 hours. A rock cod (Cottidae) died from respiratory 
distress in a few hours in a solution containing 400 milligrams of 
thallium per liter. Injection of a solution into the lymphatic trunk 
just behind the lateral fin was then attempted. A " blue cod " 
{Ophiodon elongatus) died the next day after 20 milligrams per 
kilogram; a bluefish (Sebastodes) died in four days after 10 milli- 
grams per kilogram, and another in three days after 16 milligrams 
per kilogram. 
Subcutaneous injections of 20 and of 45 milligrams of thallium as 
the nitrate killed rats in 2 days; 15 milligrams killed two guinea 
