688 poisons : their effects and detection. [§ 877 . 
sleep. The tremors are accompanied by interference with the functions 
of other organs : the respiration is weakened and difficult ; dyspnoea, or 
an asthmatic condition, results ; the pulse is small and slow ; paresis 
deepening into paralysis of the extremities, or of a group of muscles, 
follows; and, lastly, if the condition is not alleviated, the patient 
becomes much emaciated and sinks from exhaustion. Pregnant women 
are liable to abortion, and the living infants of women suffering from 
tremor have also exhibited tremor of the limbs. 
In the case of the “mass poisoning” on board the Triumph, it 
has been mentioned that several of the sailors became consumptive, and 
the same effect has been noticed among all workers in the metal; it is 
now, indeed, an accepted fact that the cachexia induced by mercurial- 
ismus produces a weak habit of body specially liable to the tuberculous 
infection. 
The course of the poisoning is generally more rapid when it has 
resulted from the taking of mercury internally as a medicine than when 
inhaled by workers in the metal: e.g., a patient suffering from mercurial 
tremor, shown to the Medical Society by Mr Spencer Watson in 1872, 
had resisted for seven years the influence of the fumes of mercury, and 
then succumbed, exhibiting the usual symptoms. Idiosyncrasy plays a 
considerable rdle ; some persons (and especially those whose kidneys are 
diseased) bear small doses of mercury ill, and are readily salivated or 
affected ; this is evidently due to imperfect elimination. 
§ 877. Mercuric Methide, Hg(CH 3 ) 2 .—This compound is obtained 
by the action of methyl iodide on sodium amalgam in the presence of 
acetic ether. It is a dense, stable liquid, of highly poisonous properties. 
In 1865, mercuric methide, in course of preparation in a London labora¬ 
tory, caused two cases of very serious slow poisoning. 1 One was that of 
a German, aged 30, who was engaged in preparing this compound 
for three months, and during this time his sight and hearing became 
impaired ; he was very weak, his gums were sore, and he was ultimately 
admitted into St Bartholomew’s Hospital, February 3rd, 1865. His 
urine was found to be albuminous, and his mental faculties very torpid. 
On the 9th he became noisy, and had to be pub under mechanical 
restraint. On the 10th he was semi-comatose, but there was no 
paralysis ; his breath was very offensive, his pupils dilated; at 
intervals he raised himself and uttered incoherent howls. There was 
neither sensation nor motion in the left leg, which was extended rigidly ; 
the knee and the foot were turned slightly inward. On the 14th he 
died insensible. 
The only appearance of note seen at the autopsy was a congestion of 
the grey matter in the brain ; the kidneys and liver were also congested, 
and there were ecchymoses in the kidneys. 
1 St Barth. Hosj). Reports, i. 141, I860. 
