166 POISONING BY ACETATE OF LEAD. 
the belief that the medicinal use of acetate of lead is always 
followed by fatal effects. We believe that it is necessary to 
study the therapeutic action of this acetate ; we know that 
large quantities of this salt have been taken, in several cases, 
and we have seen Dr. Bricheteau treat, with pills of acetate of 
lead, Mademoiselle C S , who was considered to be 
affected with consumption. This treatment was followed by 
great success, and the lady is now married, and has several 
children, and enjoys a good state of health. A, C. 
Journ. de Chim. Med. 
The above case is one of those rare occurrences in which a 
remedy, in many cases of great advantage, has been followed 
by lamentable consequences from its prolonged use. It may 
be advantageous to enquire to what cause such effects may be 
owing. In addition to the observations in the note of M. A. Che- 
vallier, it may be asked, may not this effect arise from the for- 
mation of a carbonate of lead in the stomach of a patient whose 
digestive organs are much debilitated ? Although pure neu- 
tral acetate of lead is not affected by free carbonic acid, never- 
theless the acetate of the shops is always more or less affected 
by the presence of this gas, solutions always being cloudy when 
not made with distilled water. This is due to the loss of a por- 
tion of acetic acid, consequent on the exposure of the crystals to 
the air. This exposure is followed by an opacity of the exter- 
nal crystals by efflorescence, but that, in this instance, the re- 
sult is not entirely owing to the loss of water of crystalliza- 
tion may be concluded from the strong smell of acetic acid 
which is exhaled by a jar of acetate of lead when recently un- 
stopped. In this country, the acetate is commonly used in 
much larger doses than is here stated : a very common pre- 
scription, especially in dysentery, cholera morbus, &c, being 
two or three grains of the acetate frequently repeated, and it 
is rare indeed to hear of any injurious effects therefrom. The 
custom, however, here, is to unite, in the same prescription, a 
greater or lesser quantity of opium, as a means of obviating 
any injurious effects of the remedy, as well as to fulfil other 
