§§ I37> 138 .] SODIUM, POTASSIUM, AND AMMONIUM SALTS. I 35 
of oxyhaemoglobin within four hours. Soon the blood takes a syrupy consistence 
and, with a 2-4 per cent, solution of the salt, passes into a jelly-like mass. The 
jelly has much permanence, and resists putrefactive changes for a long time. 
Various bloods show various resistances ; similarly, the effect of potassic chlorate 
is unequal in different animals : it takes large doses to kill rabbits ; cats are less 
resisting. Rabbits are killed by subcutaneous doses of from 5-6 grms. ; cats from 
1-1£ grm. Dogs require larger doses than cats, but less than rabbits. The resistance 
of human beings is about the same as that of dogs. 
Marchand fed a dog of 17 kilos, in weight with 5 grms. of potassic chlorate for a 
week. As there were no apparent symptoms, the dose was doubled for two days ; 
and as there was still no visible effect, lastly, 50 grms. of sodic chlorate were given in 
5 doses. In the following night the dog died. The blood was found after death to 
be of a sepia-brown colour, and remained unaltered when exposed to the air. The 
organs were generally of an unnatural brown colour ; the spleen was enormously 
enlarged ; the kidneys were swollen, and of a dark chocolate-brown—on section, 
almost black-brown, the colour being nearly equal, both in the substance and in the 
capsule. A microscopical examination of the kidney showed the canaliculi to be 
filled with brownish cylinders consisting of altered blood. A spectroscopic examina¬ 
tion of the blood showed weak haemoglobin bands, and a narrow band in the red. 
With further dilution, the haemoglobin bands vanished, but the band in the red 
remained. The diluted blood, when exposed to the light, still remained of a coffee- 
brown colour; and on shaking, a white-brown froth was produced on the surface. 
A second experiment, in which a hound of from 7-8 kilos, in weight was given 
three 5-grm. doses of potassic chlorate in sixteen hours, and killed by bleeding seven 
to eight hours after the last dose, showed very similar appearances. The kidneys 
were intensely congested, and the peculiar brown colour was noticeable. 
§ 137. Effects on Man. —In literature there are more than forty cases recorded, 
in which poisonous symptoms were directly ascribed to the action of chlorate of 
potassium ; twenty-nine of these terminated fatally. At Morecambe a little boy took 
about 60 grains of potassic chlorate and died in six hours ( Lancet , Aug. 22, 1903). 
A quadruple instance of poisoning, recorded by Brouardel and L’Hote, 1 illustrates 
many of the points relative to the time at which the symptoms may be expected to 
commence, and the general aspect of potassic chlorate poisoning. The superieure 
of a religious institution was in the habit of giving, for charitable purposes, a potion 
containing 15 grms. (3-9 drms.) of potassic chlorate, dissolved in 360 c.c. (about 
12| ozs.) of a vegetable infusion. 
This potion was administered to four children—viz., David, aged 2|; Cousin, 
aged 3|; Salmont, 2|; and Guerin, 2\. David took the whole in two and a half 
hours ; the symptoms commenced after the potion was finished, and the child died 
five and a half hours after taking the first dose ; there were vomiting and diarrhoea. 
Cousin took the medicine in seven hours ; the symptoms also commenced after the 
last spoonful and the death took place eight and a half hours from the first spoonful; 
the symptoms were mainly those of great depression ; the lips were blue, the pulse 
feeble, there was no vomiting, no diarrhoea. Salmont took the medicine in nine 
hours, and died in twelve ; there was some diarrhoea, the stools were of a green colour. 
Guerin took the whole in two hours ; the symptoms commenced in four hours ; the 
lips were very pale, the gums blue ; death took place in four days. 
There was an autopsy in the case of David only. The stomach showed a large 
ecchymosis on its mucous membrane, as if it had been burnt by an acid ; the spleen 
was gorged with blood, and its tissue friable ; the kidneys do not seem to have been 
thoroughly examined, but are said to have been tumefied. Potassic chlorate was 
discovered by dialysis. In the cases of the children just detailed, the symptoms 
appear to bo a mixturo of the depressing action of the potassium and irritant action 
of the chlorate. 
§ 138. In adults, the main symptoms are those of nephritis, and the fatal dose 
for an adult is somewhere about an ounce (28-3 grms.), but half this quantity would 
1 Annales d'Hygiene publique, 1881, p. 232. 
