368 
POISONOUS  DYES. 
third  day  after  the  second  injection.  A  rabbit,  after  a  single 
injection  containing  1|-  grains  of  pure  coralline,  died  in  four 
hours  with  the  same  symptons.  Less  than  |-  of  a  grain  of  the 
coloring  matter  killed  a  frog  still  more  quickly. 
The  examination  of  the  viscera  of  the  animals  so  poisoned  was 
full  of  interest.  At  the  point  where  the  coralline  had  passed 
under  the  skin,  there  was  acute  inflammation  of  the  cellular 
tissue,  with  purulent  infiltration.  The  stomach  was  healthy, 
but  the  intestines,  enormously  distended  with  fluid,  bore  distinct 
traces  of  acute  inflammation  of  the  mucous  membrane.  The 
liver  had  undergone  fatty  degeneration.  Lastly  (and  this  is  the 
essential  character  of  the  poisoning),  the  lungs  in  the  dog,  and 
still  more  in  the  rabbit,  appeared  as  if  themselves  stained  by  the 
coloring  matter,  and  presented  throughout  a  very  beautiful 
scarlet  tint,  which  spread  uniformly  over  their  surface,  so  as  to 
efface  the  lobular  divisions  and  the  vessels  ramifying  upon  them. 
M.  Roussin,  by  an  ingenious  process,  succeeding  in  dyeing 
red  a  skein  of  silk  with  the  coloring  matter  taken  from  the  liver 
and  lungs  of  the  poisoned  animals.  In  this  way  the  coralline, 
which  had  been  the  cause  of  the  poisoning,  was  detected  by  the 
characteristic  property  of  the  coloring  matter,  just  as  atropine 
and  digitaline  are  identified  by  the  power  they  respectfully  pos- 
sess of  dilating  the  pupil,  and  arresting  the  heart's  beat.  It 
was  a  new  application,  as  happy  as  unexpected,  of  the  physio- 
logical and  experimental  method  now  so  largely  used  in  the 
detection  of  organic  poisons. 
Coralline,  then,  is  doubtless  a  very  energetic  poison.  When 
introduced  into  the  living  body,  even  in  a  small  dose,  it  may 
cause  death.  It  belongs  to  a  class  of  bodies  which  is  every  day 
increasing  with  the  incessant  progress  of  the  chemical  arts ;  and 
it  affords  a  new  example  of  the  im.portance,  both  for  hygiene 
and  legal  medicine,  of  following  the  march  and  progress  of  in- 
dustry, and  of  studying  the  influence  which  its  recent  conquests 
may  exercise  on  the  health  of  human  beings. — Lond,  Pharm. 
Journ.^  March,  1869,  from  Les  Mondes,  par  M.  VAhhe  Moigno, 
4  Fhrier  1869. 
