130 
ON THE PHYSIOLOGICAL PROPERTIES OF NITROBENZOLE AND 
ANILINE. 
BY HENRY LETHEBY. M.B., F.L.S., ETC. 
It is on record that Thrasyas, the father of botany, was so skilled in the preparation 
of drugs, that he knew how to compound a poison which would remain for days in the 
living body without manifesting its action, and would at last kill by a lingering illness. 
Theophrastus speaks of this poison, and says its force could be so modified as to occasion 
death in two, three, or six months, or even at the end of a year or two years. The 
writings of Plutarch, Tacitus, Quintilian, and Livy are full of instances of what seem to 
be this kind of slow and occult poisoning. In fact, until recently there has been a com¬ 
mon belief among the unlearned that a skilful poisoner could so apportion the dose and 
combinations of certain subtle agents that he could destroy the life of his victim with 
certainty, and at the same time measure his allotted moments with the nicest precision, 
and defy the utmost skill of the physician and the chemist. Even so late as the sixteenth 
century this belief was shared by the learned of the medical profession ; for we are told, 
in Sprat’s ‘History of the Royal Society,’that among other questions which were 
drawn up by the earlier Fellows to be submitted to the Chinese and Indians was. 
“Whether the Indians can so prepare that stupefying herb, Datura, that they make it 
lie several days, months, years, according as they will have it, in a man’s body without 
doing him any hurt, and at the end kill him without missing half an hour's time? ” 
Modern toxicologists have long since discarded these notions, and have set them down 
to the vague fears and exaggerated fancies of the ancients, rather than to the sober con¬ 
templation of facts. But the account which I am about to give of the physiological 
properties of nitrobenzole will show that there is one substance, at least, which realizes 
to a great extent the extraordinary opinions of the ancients. This compound may be 
given to-day, and yet, if the dose be not too large, it shall not manifest its action until to¬ 
morrow or the day after, and shall then destroy life by a lingering illness, which shall 
not only defy the skill of the physician, but shall also baffle the researches of the me¬ 
dical jurist. These facts are so remarkable, that they -would be hardly credited if they 
were not susceptible of the proof of demonstration. They are likewise the more inter¬ 
esting and important from the circumstance that nitrobenzole is now a common article 
of commerce, and is accessible to every one. 
In every manufactory where nitrobenzole and aniline are prepared on a large scale, 
the peculiar narcotic effects of these poisons are often observed. The vapours escaping 
into the atmosphere are breathed by the workmen, and cause distressing headache and a 
heavy, sleepy sensation. For the most part these effects are not serious, but are quickly 
relieved by fresh air and a mild stimulant, as a glass of brandy-and-water. Now and 
then, however, the workmen, from carelessness in their habits, expose themselves to the 
action of comparatively large quantities of these poisons, and then the effects are most 
dangerous. Two fatal cases of poisoning by nitrobenzole have been referred to me by 
the coroner for investigation during the last two years, and in both instances they were 
the results of careless manipulation. In one case a man, forty-three years of age, spilt a 
quantity of the liquid over the front of his clothes, and he went about for several hours 
in an atmosphere saturated with the poison. In the other a boy, aged seventeen years, 
received a little of the liquid into his mouth while sucking at a siphon. The effects 
were nearly the same in both cases, notwithstanding that in one the poison was in¬ 
haled, and in the other it was swallowed. For some time there was no feeling of dis¬ 
comfort beyond that of drowsiness; gradually, however, the face became flushed, the 
expression stupid, and the gait unsteady,—the sufferers had the appearance of persons 
who had been drinking. Little by little this stupor increased, until it passed into pro¬ 
found coma, and in this condition they died. The progress of each case was much the 
same as that of slow intoxication, excepting that the mind was perfectly clear until the 
coming on of the fatal coma. This was sudden, like a fit of apoplexy; and from thajt 
moment there -was no "return of consciousness or of bodily power,—the sufferer lay as f 
in a deep sleep, and died without a struggle. The duration of each case was nearly the 
same; about four hours elapsed from the time of taking or inhaling the poison to the 
setting in of the coma, and the coma lasted for about five hours. 
After death there were no appearances of convulsions, but rather of narcotism and 
