184 POISONS : TIIEIR EFFECTS AND DETECTION. [§ 228. 
even death) have resulted from the application of carbolic acid lotion as 
a remedy for scabies or itch. 
A surgeon prescribed for two joiners who suffered from scabies a 
lotion, which was intended to contain 30 grms. of carbolic acid in 240 
c.c. of water ; but the actual contents of the flasks were afterwards from 
analysis estimated by Hoppe-Seyler to be 33-26 grms., and the quantity 
used by each to be equal to 13-37 grms. (206 grains) of carbolic acid. 
One of the men died ; the survivor described his own symptoms as 
follows :—He and his companion stood in front of the fire, and rubbed 
the lotion in ; he rubbed it into his legs, breast, and the front part of 
his body ; the other parts were mutually rubbed. Whilst rubbing his 
right arm, and drying it before the fire, he felt a burning sensation, a 
tightness and giddiness, and mentioned his sensations to his companion, 
who laughed. This condition lasted from five to seven minutes, but he 
did not remember whether his companion complained of anything, nor 
did he know what became of him, nor how he himself came to be in bed. 
He was found holding on to the joiner’s bench, looking with wide staring 
eyes, like a drunken man, and was delirious for half an hour. The 
following night he slept uneasily and complained of headache and 
burning of the skin. The pulse was 68 ; the appearance of the urine, 
appetite, and sense of taste were normal; the bowels confined. He 
soon recovered. 
The other joiner seems to have died as suddenly as if he had taken 
prussic acid. He called to his mother, “ Ich habe einen Rausch ,” and 
died with pale livid face, after taking two deep, short inspirations. 
The post-mortem examination showed the sinuses filled with much 
fluid blood, and the vessels of the pia mater congested. Frothy, dark, 
fluid blood was found in the lungs, which were hypersemic ; the mucous 
tissues of the epiglottis and air-tubes were reddened, and covered with 
a frothy slime. Both ventricles—the vense cavse and the vessels of the 
spleen and kidneys—were filled with dark fluid blood. The muscles 
were veryy’ed; there was no special odour. Hoppe-Seyler recognised 
carbolic acid in the blood and different organs of the body. 1 
In another case, a child died from the outward use of a 2 per cent, 
solution of carbolic acid. It is described as follows :—An infant of 
7 weeks old suffered from varicella, and one of the pustules became 
the centre of an erysipelatous inflammation. To this place a 2 per cent, 
solution of carbolic acid was applied by means of a compress steeped in 
the acid ; the following morning the temperature rose from 36-5° (97-7° 
F.) to 37° (98-6° F.), and poisonous symptoms appeared. The urine 
was coloured dark. There were sweats, vomitings, and contracted 
pupils, spasmodic twitchings of the eyelids and eyes, with strabismus, 
1 R. Kohler, Wiirtem. Med. Corr. Bl., xlii.,No. 6, April 1872 ; H. Abelin, Schmidt’s 
Jahrbiieher, 1877, Bd. clxxiii. S. 163. 
