LEAD. 
§ 813.] 
symptoms after subcutaneous doses of from 2 to 3 mgr ms., rabbits after 
40 mgrms. ; there was increased peristaltic action of the intestines, with 
spasmodic contraction rising to colic, very often diarrhoea, and death 
followed through heart paralysis. Dogs given the ethyl compound 
exhibited nervous symptoms like chorea. Gusserno 1 has also made 
experiments on animals as to the effects of lead, using lead phosphate, 
and giving from 1*2 grin, to a rabbit and a dog daily. Rosenstein 2 and 
Heubel 3 used small doses of acetate, the latter giving dogs daily from -2 
to *5 grm. The results arrived at by Gusserno were, mainly, that the 
animals became emaciated, shivered, and had some paralysis of the hinder 
extremities ; while Rosenstein observed towards the end epileptiform con¬ 
vulsions, and Heubel alone saw, in a few of his cases, colic. A consider¬ 
able number of cattle have been poisoned from time to time with lead, and 
one instance of this fell under the senior author’s observation. A pasture 
had been manured with refuse from a plumber’s yard, and pieces of paint 
were in this way strewn about the field in every direction ; a herd of 
fifteen young cattle were placed in the field, and in two or three days 
they all, without exception, began rapidly to lose condition, and to show 
peculiar symptoms—diarrhoea, loss of appetite ; in two, blindness, the 
retina presenting an appearance not unlike that seen in Bright’s disease ; 
in three, a sort of delirium. Four died, and showed on post-mortem 
examination granular conditions of the kidneys, which was the most 
striking change observable. In the fatal cases, paralysis of the hind 
extremities, coma, and convulsions preceded death. In another case, 4 
seven cows and a bull died from eating lead paint ; the symptoms were 
loss of appetite, obstinate constipation, suspension of rumination, dry 
muffle, quick breathing, and coma. In other cases a marked symptom 
has been paralysis. Cattle 5 have also several times been poisoned from 
eating grass which has been splashed by the spray from bullets, as in 
pastures in the vicinity of rifle butts ; here we must allow that the 
intestinal juices have dissolved the metal, and transformed it into 
compounds capable of being taken into the system. 
§ 813. Effects of Lead Compounds on Man—Acute Poisoning.— 
Acute poisoning by preparations of lead is not common, and, when it 
does occur, is seldom fatal. With regard to the common acetate, it 
would seem that a large single dose is less likely to destroy life than 
smaller quantities given in divided doses for a considerable period. The 
symptoms produced by a considerable dose of sugar of lead usually 
commence within a few minutes; there is immediately a metallic 
taste, with burning, and a sensation of great dryness in the mouth 
1 Virchow’s Archiv f. path. Anat., xxi. 443. 
2 Ibid., xxxix. 1 and 74. 
3 Pathogenese u. Symptome der chronischen Bleivergiftung, Berlin, 1871. 
4 See a paper by Professor Tuson, Veterinarian, vol. xxxviii., 1861. 
5 Ibid. ; also Taylor, op. cit. 
