526 
Arsenical Poisoning by Wall-Papers [September, 
his legs gave way under him, and he staggered about like a 
drunkenman. As soon as he could he opened his dooi and 
got out, and reeled to a window that stood °P™ in ‘ 
corridor The fresh cool air of the morning seemed to infuse 
n°ew life into him; he breathed more freely and gained 
power over his limbs ; in a few minutes he was able to ma 
his way out of the house. As he walked up the gree 
sward every disagreeable symptom vanished. Quee 
was waiting for him, and remarked he was late ' f nd he 
obliged to confess that illness was the cause ; at the sa 
time he stated that he had been poisoned by the wall-paper 
of his bed-room. Her Majesty expressed great syrnpathjg 
and at once commanded an attendant to have P 
naner striDPed from the wall of the bed-room and bioug - 
to her This was submitted to chemical analysis, and found 
“highly arsenical.” This interesting case shows the extra- 
ordinary susceptibility of some persons to arsenical wall- 
paper poisoning. At the same time the remarkable aftn y 
of the toxic agent may have been gently piomoted > 
temperature of the room, and its having been °“ u Pied foi 
the first time after repairing and paintin b . I “ e P / 
doubtless entered the circulation through the lungs in 
gaseous form (hydrogen arsenide), thus producing ansesthesi , 
Uren°followed arrest of the heart’s adhon and paralysis of 
the nervous centres. In some cases, coma and death ensue. 
In the greater number of cases arsenical poisoning take 
place slowly and insidiously ; it begins with headache, d y 
cough, oppressed breathing, giddiness, and sleeplessness , 
the limbs are painful, feeble, trembling, and benumbed. In 
other instances it attacks the surface of the body, causes 
chronic skin disease, or the fingers and arms aie coveied 
with painful sores. In an establishment where a lmndied 
young girls were constantly employed making aitifieial 
flowers and leaves, the greater number of them suffeied 
from eruptions and painful cracking of the skin of the fingeis 
and flexures of the arms. Twenty-six of them presented 
other symptoms of chronic poisoning, and one died, aftei 
months of great suffering, from ulcerations attacking vanous 
parts of the body. . rr . . ,, 
1 Workmen while engaged in stripping off old wall-pape s 
from rooms, preparatory to re-papering, are frequen y 
obliged to leave their work from attacks of diarrhoea and 
other stomach derangements. Hundreds of instances of 
dangerous illnesses have been published from time to time, 
which fully confirm what has been stated with regaid to the 
