l 88 POISONS : THEIR EFFECTS AND DETECTION. [§§ 233 , 234 . 
E. Kiister 1 has shown that the temperature of dogs, when doses of 
carbolic acid in solution are injected subcutaneously, or into the veins, is 
immediately, or very soon after the operation, raised. With small and 
moderate doses, this effect is but slight—-from half to a whole degree; 
on the day after the injection the temperature sinks below the normal 
point, and only slowly becomes again natural. With doses that are just 
lethal, first a rise and then a rapid sinking of temperature are observed ; 
but with those excessive doses which speedily kill, the temperature at 
once sinks without a preliminary rise. The action on the heart is not 
very marked, but there is always a slowing of the cardiac pulsations ; 
according to Hoppe-Seyler the arteries are relaxed. The respiration is 
much quickened ; this acceleration is due to an excitement of the vagus 
centre, since Salkowsky has shown that section of the vagus produces a 
retardation of the respiratory wave. Direct application of the acid to 
muscles or nerves quickly destroys their excitability without a previous 
stage of excitement. The main cause of the lethal action of carbolic acid 
—putting on one side those cases in which it may kill by its local corro¬ 
sive action—appears to be paralysis of the respiratory nervous centres. 
The convulsions arise from the spinal cord. On the cessation of the 
convulsions, the superficial nature of the breathing assists other changes 
by preventing the due oxidation of the blood. 
§ 233. Carbolic acid is separated from the body in the forms already 
mentioned; a small portion is also excreted by the skin. Salkowsky 
states that, with rabbits, he has also found oxalic acid in the urine as 
an oxidation product. According to the researches of Binnendijk, 2 
the separation of carbolic acid by the urine commences very quickly 
after its ingestion ; and, under favourable circumstances, it may be com¬ 
pletely excreted within from twelve to sixteen hours. It must be re¬ 
membered that normally a small amount of phenol may be present in 
the animal body, as the result of the digestion of albuminous substances 
or of their putrefaction. The amount excreted by healthy men when 
feeding on mixed diet, Engel, 3 by experiment, estimates to be in the 
twenty-four hours 15 mgrms. 
§ 234. Post-mortem Appearances. —No fact is better ascertained from 
experiments on animals than the following :—That with lethal doses of 
carbolic acid, administered by subcutaneous injection, or introduced by 
the veins, no appearances may be found after death which can be called at 
all characteristic. Further, in the cases in which death has occurred from 
the outward application of the acid for the cure of scabies, etc., no lesion 
was ascertained after death which could—apart from the history of the 
case and chemical evidence—with any confidence be ascribed to a poison. 
1 Archiv f. klin. Chirurgie, Bd. xxii. S. 133, 1879. 
2 Journal de Pharmacie et de Chimie, 4 ser., t. xxx., 1880. 
3 Annal. <jle Chimie et de Physique, 5 ser., t. xx. p. 230, 1880. 
