198 poisons : their effects and detection. [§ 248 . 
On drinking the poison there is a burning taste in the mouth, shortly 
followed by a very striking blueness or purple appearance of the lips, 
tongue, skin, nails, and even the conjunctivse. This curious colour of 
the skin has, in one or two instances, been witnessed an hour before any 
feeling of illness manifested itself ; vomiting then comes on, the vomited 
matter smelling of nitro-benzene. The skin is cold, there is great de¬ 
pression, and the pulse is small and weak. The respiration is affected, 
the breathing being slow and irregular, the breath smelling strongly of 
the liquid, and the odour often persisting for days. A further jstage is 
that of loss of consciousness, and this comes on with all the suddenness 
of a fit of apoplexy. The coma is also similar in appearance to apoplectic 
coma, but there have frequently been seen trismus and convulsions of the 
extremities. The pupils are dilated and do not react to light, and reflex 
sensibility is sometimes completely extinguished. Cases vary a little in 
their main features ; in a few the blue skin and the deep sleep are the 
only symptoms noted. Death, for the most part, occurs after a period of 
from eight to twenty-four hours (occasionally as soon as four or five 
hours) after taking the poison. 
From the following remarkable train of symptoms in a dog, it is 
probable, indeed, that nitro-benzene, taken by a human being, might 
produce death, after a rather prolonged period of time, by its secondary 
effects :—To a half-bred greyhound 1 were administered 15 grms. of nitro¬ 
benzene, when shortly after there were noticed much salivation, shiver¬ 
ing, and muscular twitchings. The same dose was repeated at the end of 
five, of seven, and of eight hours respectively, so that the dog altogether 
took 60 grms., but with no other apparent symptom than the profuse 
salivation. On the following day, the dog voided a tapeworm ; vomit¬ 
ing supervened ; the heart’s action was quickened, and the breathing 
difficult; convulsions followed, and the pupils were seen to be dilated. 
For eight days the dog suffered from dyspnoea, quickened pulse, shivering 
of the legs or of the whole body, tetanic spasms, bloody motions, great 
thirst and debility. The temperature gradually sank under 25°, and the 
animal finally died. The autopsy showed, as the most striking change, 
the whole mucous membrane of the intestinal tract covered with a-yellow 
layer, which chemical analysis proved to be caused by picric acid ; and in 
the urine, liver, and lungs aniline was discovered. 
§ 248. Fatal Dose.— It is probable, from recorded cases, that 1 grm. 
(15-4 grains) would be quite sufficient to kill an adult, and, under 
favourable circumstances, less than that quantity. It would seem that 
spirituous liquids especially hasten and intensify the action of nitro¬ 
benzene, so that a drunken person, cceteris -paribus , taking the poison 
with spirits, would be more affected than one taking it under other 
conditions. 
1 Eulenberg, Geiverbe Hygiene , S. 607. 
