CHROMIUM. 
§§ 928, 929.] 
719 
by a cold sweat; in twenty minutes lie vomited ; lie then suffered from 
great pain in the stomach, giddiness, specks before the eyes, a devouring 
thirst, and there was loss of power over the legs. These symptoms, 
again, were followed by severe rigors and great coldness of the ex¬ 
tremities. On the patient’s admission to hospital, two hours after 
taking the poison, it was noted that the pupils were dilated, the face 
pale and cold, and the pulse feeble. He complained of intense 
epigastric pain, and a feeling of depression ; there was some stupor. 
The stomach was emptied by emetics and by the stomach-pump, and 
the patient treated with tepid emollient drinks, whilst subcutaneous 
doses of sulphuric ether were administered. He made a good recovery. 
In a case recorded by Mr Wilson, 1 a man, aged 64, was found dead 
in his bed twelve hours after he had gone to rest. During the night he 
was heard to snore loudly ; there were no signs of vomiting or purging, 
and bichromate of potash was found in the stomach. 2 
§ 928. Chromate of lead has also caused death. In one case 3 the 
breathing of chromate of lead dust seems to have been fatal; and there 
is also a double poisoning recorded by Dr Linstow, 4 of two children, 
aged 3^- and if years respectively, who ate some yellow ornaments 5 
which were used to adorn a cake and which contained chrome yellow 
(chromate of lead). The younger died in two and the elder in five 
days. The symptoms were redness of the face, dulness, and an 
inclination to sleep ; neither complained of pain, the younger one had 
a little diarrhoea, but the elder neither sickness nor purging. 
In Guy's Hospital Reports for 1897, Dr Watson Smith records the 
poisoning of a grocer, aged 31, by lead chromate supposed to have been 
taken in home-made wine which had been standing in a lead-glazed 
earthenware pan. The man became jaundiced ; the urine was of a dark 
colour, but gave no bile reaction. There were vomiting and obstinate 
constipation. The tongue showed bluish-black pigmentation along the 
left margin of the dorsum, resembling “ somewhat the appearance 
of an ill-shaven chin in a person of dark complexion.” The man 
recovered. 
§ 929. Post-mortem Appearances. —We possess some very exact 
researches 6 upon the pathological changes induced by subcutaneous 
1 Med. Gazette, xxxiii. 734. 
2 See also cases recorded by Dr M‘Lachlan, Glasgow Med. Journ., July 1881 ; 
Dr M‘Crorie, ibid., May 1881 ; Dr R. A. Warwick, Lancet, Jan. 31, 1880 ; and Dr 
Dunbar Walker, ibid., Sept. 27, 1879—a summary of all of which may be found in 
Dr Macniven’s paper, loc. cit. 
3 “ Ueber todtliche Vergiftung durcli Einathmen ties Staubes von mit Chromsauren 
Blei-Oxyde gefarbten Game,” Vierteljahrsschr. f. ger. Med., Bd. xxvii. Hft. 1, p. 29, 
1877. 4 Ibid., xx. 60, 1874. 
5 The ornaments were imitations of bees ; each contained -27 grin, gum traga- 
canth, -0042 grm. neutral lead chromate. 
6 C. Posner, op. cit. 
