l8o POISONS : THEIR EFFECTS AND DETECTION. [§ 225 - 
familiarity is the growth of a very few years, since it was not discovered 
until 1834, and does not seem to have been used by Lister until about 
1863. It was not known to the people generally until much later. At 
present it occupies the third place in fatality of all poisons in England. 
During the five years ending 1916 carbolic acid killed 363 people, 
either accidentally or suicidally. 
Falck has collected, since the year 1868, 87 cases of poisoning from 
carbolic acid recorded in medical literature. In one of the cases the 
individual died in nine hours from a large dose of carbolate of soda ; in 
a second, violent symptoms were induced by breathing for three hours 
carbolic acid vapour ; in the remaining 85, the poisoning was caused by 
the liquid acid. Of these 85 persons, 7 had taken the poison with 
suicidal intent, and of the 7, 5 died ; 39 were poisoned through the 
medicinal use of carbolic acid, 27 of the 39 by the antiseptic treatment 
of wounds by carbolic acid dressings, and of these 8 terminated fatally ; 
in 8 cases, symptoms of poisoning followed the rubbing or painting of 
the acid on the skin for the cure of scabies, favus, or psoriasis, and 6 of 
these persons died. In 4 cases, carbolic acid enemata, administered for 
the purpose of dislodging ascarides, gave rise to symptoms of poisoning, 
and in one instance death followed. 
The substitution of carbolic acid for medicine happened as follows :— 
Cases. 
Taken instead of Tincture of Opium . . . . 1 
„ „ Infusion of Senna .... 3 
,, „ Mineral Water .... 2 
,, „ other Mixtures .... 3 
,, inwardly instead of applied outwardly . . 3 
12 
Of these 12, 8 died. 
Again, 10 persons took carbolic acid in mistake for various alcoholic 
drinks, such as schnapps, brandy* rum, or beer, and 9 of the 10 suc¬ 
cumbed ; 17 persons drank carbolic acid simply “ by mistake,” and of 
these 13 died. Thus, of the whole 85 cases, no less than 51 ended 
fatally—nearly 60 per cent. 
It must be always borne in mind that, with regard to statistics gener¬ 
ally, the term “ carbolic acid ” is not used by coroners, juries, or medical 
men in a strictly chemical sense, the term being made to include dis¬ 
infecting fluids which are almost wholly composed of the cresols, and 
contain scarcely any phenol. Hence, with regard to symptoms and 
pathological appearances, it is only occasionally possible to state 
whether the pure medicinal crystalline phenol or a mixture of tar-acids 
was the cause of poisoning. 
§ 225. Fatal Dose. —The minimum fatal dose for cats, dogs, and 
rabbits appears to be less than -5 grm. per kilogramme. Falck has put 
