BARIUM. 
§§ 947-949-1 
729 
during the night without further sickness. The next morning, after 
drinking some coffee, the sickness was renewed ; nevertheless, at 7 a.m. 
she repaired to her employment, which was distant an hour’s walk ; she 
probably suffered much on the way, for she did not arrive until 9 a.m. 
The vomiting, accompanied by diarrhoea, continuing, she was sent to 
bed at 2 p.m. She was very cold, and complained of great weakness; 
the vomiting now ceased. At 8 p.m. she shivered violently, could 
scarcely swallow, and the respiration was oppressed. At 11 she 
seemed a little improved ; but at 3 a.m. she was found much worse, 
breathing rapidly, but fully conscious ; at 4 a.m. she was again seen, 
but found dead : she thus lived about thirty-four hours after taking 
the fatal dose. 
§ 947. Distribution of Barium in the Body. —Neumann has shown 
that, after repeated injection of insoluble barium sulphate into the veins 
of rabbits, barium is to be found in the liver, kidneys, spleen, and spinal 
cord, but not in the muscles, thymus, or brain. G. Linossier 1 has 
made a similar series of experiments, but with the carbonate, and this 
salt was injected into animals for a period of thirty days. All the 
organs contained some barium : lungs, muscles, and the heart only con¬ 
tained traces ; the liver rather more ; the kidneys, brain, and spinal cord 
still more ; and, lastly, the bones a considerable quantity, as much as 
0-056 per cent. 
§ 948. Post-mortem Appearances.— The post-mortem appearances 
are usually changes in the stomach and intestinal tract, but there are 
only rarely traces of great inflammation. It is true that in a case 
recorded by Wach 2 perforation of the stomach was found ; but, since 
there was old-standing disease of both liver and stomach, it is not clear 
that this is to be attributed entirely to poison. In the case of suicide 
just detailed, the mucous membrane of the stomach was much ecchy- 
mosed ; over the whole were strewn little white grains, sticking to the 
mucous membrane, and there were also ecchymoses in the duodenum. 
§ 949. The Separation of Barium Salts from Organic Solids or 
Fluids, and their Identification. —In the usual course of examination 
of an unknown substance, the matter will already have been extracted 
by hydrochloric acid, and the solution successively treated with hydric 
and ammonic sulphides. The filtrate from any precipitate, after 
being boiled, would in such a case give a precipitate if treated with 
sulphuric acid, should a salt of barium soluble in hydrochloric acid 
be present. 
If there, however, should be special grounds to search for baryta in 
particular, it is best to extract the substances with pure boiling water, to 
concentrate the solution, and then add sulphuric acid, collecting any 
1 Compt. rend. Soc. Biol. (8), iv. 122-123. 
2 Henke’s Zeitschrift f. Staatsarzneik., 1835, Bd. xxx. Hft. 1, § 1. 
