DEATH  FROM  THE  CARELESS  USE  OP  A  HAIR  DYE. 
313 
DEATH  FROM  THE  CARELESS  USE  OF  A  HAIR  DYE. 
By  W.  E.  A.  Aikin,  M.  D. 
Prof.  Chem.  in  University  of  Maryland. 
Prof.  Procter : 
Dear  Sir, — The  subjoined  extract  from  a  letter  received  a 
few  days  since  from  a  young  medical  friend  in  an  adjoining 
State  needs  no  preface.  All  names  are  withheld  for  the  simple 
reason  that  my  business  concerns  the  wrong  done  without  regard 
to  the  wrong  doer. 
"  One  of  my  neighbors  lost  a  child  a  few  days  ago,  supposed  to  have 
taken  not  exceeding  f.^ss.  of  the  contents  of  the  accompanying  phial.  If 
the  mother  be  correct,  I  do  not  think  the  child  could  have  taken  more  than 
a  few  drops.  The  child  came  into  the  room  with  the  phial  in  one  hand 
and  the  cork  in  the  other  and  got  up  in  the  chair  her  mother  had  just  left,  was 
there  unnoticed  for  a  minute,  and  was  then  discovered  in  the  act  of  falling,  still 
grasping  the  phial.  She  was  quite  senseless  and  never  moved  afterwards, 
yet  breathed  (from  their  account)  at  long  intervals  for  15  or  20  minutes, 
when  death  relieved  her  sufferings.  I  gave  20  drops  from  the  phial  to  a 
pup  and  it  died  in  5  minutes.    I  then  gave  f.gss.  to  a  large  cat  and  it 
died  in  one  minute.    The  phial  is  supposed  to  be  's  Hair  Dye,  as  it 
is  labelled  precisely  like  that.  There  is  a  young  man  living  in  the  family 
where  the  accident  occurred  who  has  the  above  Hair  Dye,  but  he  has  only 
the  phials  marked  Nos.  1.  and  2.  He  says  his  phial  No.  3  got  broken  long 
since.  It  seems  to  me  that  if  a  man  were  to  put  such  an  article  in  Hair 
Dye  without  cautioning  the  public,  he  would  be  liable  to  be  punished,  at 
least  he  ought  to  be.  I  will  be  obliged  if  you  will  examine  the  contents  of 
the  phial  and  let  me  know  what  the  liquid  contains." 
The  phial  accompanying  the  letter  was  labelled  No.  3,  and 
contained  a  few  drachms  of  a  clear  liquid,  of  a  slightly  yellow- 
ish tinge,  a  strong  alkaline  reaction,  slightly  ammoniacal,  as 
shown  when  a  glass  rod  moistened  with  hydrochloric  acid  was 
brought  near  it,  and  possessing  the  unmistakable  odor  of  hydro- 
cyanic acid,  and  having  a  specific  gravity  of  1.0525.  One  fluid 
drachm  distilled  with  excess  of  dilute  sulphuric  acid  and  passing 
the  vapor  into  a  solution  of  nitrate  of  silver,  gave  me  a  precipitate 
of  cyanide  of  silver  weighing  when  dried  grs.  10.30.  A  portion 
of  this  precipitate  ignited  in  a  small  glass  tube  gave  free  cyano- 
gen, which  burned  with  its  characteristic  flame,  and  left  a  solid 
residue  of  metallic  silver.  A  portion  of  the  acid  liquid  left  in 
the  retort  was  then  neutralized  with  a  solution  of  pure  soda, 
evaporated  to  dryness,  ignited  and  re-dissolved ;  and  in  the  solu- 
