DEATH  FROM  THE  CARELESS  USE  OF  HAIR  DYE. 
315 
Adam's  Express  a  box  of  the  Hair  Dye  in  question.  The  box 
contained  three  phials  labelled  Nos.  1,  2  and  3,  with  printed 
directions  for  use.  No.  3  of  the  box  was  exactly  like  No.  3  sent 
to  me,  in  shape  and  size  and  label,  and  in  its  contents,  being  a 
solution  of  cyanide  of  kalium.  No.  1  contained  an  alkaline 
sulphide,  principally,  if  not  wholly,  sulphide  of  ammonium,  with 
its  disagreeable  odor  in  good  part  concealed,  apparently  by  rose 
water.  No.  2  contained  a  mixed  solution  of  the  ammoniacal 
oxides  of  silver  and  copper.  These  two  phials  produce  the  dye. 
No.  3,  as  I  had  suspected,  was  needed  for  its  solvent  power,  to  re- 
move any  accidental  stain  on  the  skin  made  by  the  dye,  and  pro- 
fessed to  be  supplied  for  that  purpose  alone.  A  few  drops  from 
Nos.  1  and  2  mingled  in  a  test  tube  with  water  gave  at  once  a 
dark  precipitate  of  the  mingled  sulphides  of  silver  and  copper. 
This  precipitate  was  promptly  dissolved  on  adding  a  few  drops 
from  phial  No.  3,  and  quite  as  promptly  disappeared  when  acted 
on  by  my  solution  of  cyanide  of  kalium. 
The  character  of  the  solution  in  the  phial  sent  to  me,  the  No. 
3  of  the  Hair  Dye,  and  its  fitness  for  the  purpose  for  which  it  is 
intended,  is  thus  sufficiently  apparent.  Whether  the  proprietor 
of  the  preparation  is  excusable  in  supplying  the  public  with  such 
a  deadly  poison,  without  a  word  of  warning  that  might  induce 
some  little  caution  in  keeping  and  using  it,  is  a  question  for  the 
public  and  the  authorities  to  decide.  The  party  must  have 
been  aware,  or  should  have  been,  that  this  compound,  so  harm- 
less when  used  in  accordance  with  the  directions,  if  taken  inter- 
nally becomes  one  of  the  most  rapidly  fatal  poisons  known  ; 
scarcely  inferior  in  this  respect  to  hydrocyanic  acid  itself,  and 
like  that  so  rapid  and  so  virulent  in  its  action  as  to  be  almost 
beyond  the  reach  of  antidotes.  It  can  be  no  consolation  to  the 
parents,  whose  little  one  has  perished  so  suddenly  and  so  horri- 
bly, to  be  told  that  the  one  who  furnished  the  deadly  draught 
never  intended  it  to  be  used  in  that  way,  and  I  cannot  help 
concluding  with  my  friend  that  any  one  who  could  be  guilty  of 
such  carelessness,  if  not  liable  to  be  punished,  at  least  ought  to  be. 
Respectfully,  &c, 
William  E.  A.  Aikin,  M.  D. 
University  of  Maryland,  Baltimore,  June  26th,  1860. 
