PHOSPHORUS. 
235 
§§ 291, 292.] 
recorded, in 8 the symptoms were described as either immediate or 
within a few minutes after swallowing the poison ; in 6 the symptoms 
commenced within the hour ; in 3 within two hours ; in other 3 within 
four hours ; and in 1 within six hours. One was delayed until the lapse 
of twelve hours, 1 from sixteen to eighteen hours, 1 two, and another 
five days. We may, therefore, expect that in half the cases which may 
occur, the symptoms will commence within the hour, and more than 
80 per cent, within six hours. 
§ 291. Period Of Death. —In 129 cases death took place as follows :— 
In 17 within twenty-four hours, in 30 within two days, in 103 within 
seven days. Three patients lived eight days, 6 nine days, 13 ten days, 
1 eleven days, 1 sixteen days, 1 seventeen days, and 1 survived eight 
months. It hence follows that 72 per cent, of the fatal cases die 
within the week. The shortest time in which death has taken place is 
about seven hours. 
§ 292. Phosphorus Vapour. —There are one or two cases on record of 
acute poisoning by phosphorus in the form of vapour. The symptoms 
are somewhat different from the effects produced by the finely divided 
solid, and in general terms it may be said that phosphorus vapour is 
more apt to produce the rarer “ nervous ” form of poisoning than the 
solid phosphorus. 
Bouchardat 1 mentions the case of a druggist who, while preparing a 
large quantity of rat-poison in a closed room, inhaled phosphorus vapour. 
He fainted repeatedly, fell into a complete state of prostration, and died 
within a week. 
The following interesting case came under the observation of Pro¬ 
fessor Magnus Huss :—A man, 39 years old, married, was admitted 
into the Seraphin-Lazareth, Stockholm, on the 2nd of February 1842. 
He had been occupied three years in the manufacture of phosphorus * 
matches, and inhabited the room in which the materials were preserved. 
He had always been well conducted in every way, and in good health, 
until a year previously, when a large quantity of the material for the 
manufacture of the matches accidentally caught fire and exploded. 
In his endeavours to extinguish the flames, he breathed a large quantity 
of the vapour, and he fell for a time unconscious. The spine after¬ 
wards became so weak that he could not hold himself up, and he lost, 
in a great measure, power over his legs and arms. On admission, his 
condition was as follows :—He could make a few uncertain and stagger¬ 
ing steps, his knees trembled, his arms shook, and if he attempted to 
grasp anything when he lay in bed, there were involuntary twitchings 
of groups of muscles. There was no pain, the sensibility of the skin 
was unchanged ; he had formication in the left arm ; the spine was 
1 Annuaire de Therap., 1874, p. 109; Scliuchardt in Maschka’s Handbuch ; also 
Schmidt’s Jahrbuch, li. 101, 184G. 
