180 
So-called  Bismuth  Breath. 
f  Am.  Jour.  Pharm. 
\       April,  1884. 
meals.  The  odor  was  noticed  in  the  breath  30  minutes  after  taking 
the  third  dose,  and  continued  about  66  hours. 
III.  Five  doses  of  this  solution  of  5  cc.  each  were  taken  after  five 
succeeding  meals,  when  the  odor  was  soon  noticed,  and  lasted  about  90 
hours. 
IV.  After  six  doses  of  5  cc.  each,  the  odor  was  quite  distinct;  three 
additional  doses  were  taken  and  the  odor  lasted  96  hours. 
V.  Five  doses  of  5  cc.  each  were  taken  after  five  consecutive  meals; 
the  odor  was  noticeable  in  45  minutes  and  lasted  73  hours. 
VI.  After  one  dose  of  5  cc.  the  garlic  odor  was  perceptible  in  75 
minutes  and  lasted  about  30  hours. 
Smaller  quantities  of  this  solution  were  then  given,  namely,  1  cc.  to 
each  of  two  young  men,  2  cc.  to  two  persons  and  3  cc.  each  to  three 
persons;  but  no  garlic  like  odor  could  be  detected. 
The  nature  of  the  compound  which  possesses  this  garlic-like  odor  is, 
as  yet,  not  understood,  although  Hansen  attributes  the  odor  to  be  caused 
by  a  volatile  organic  compound  of  tellurium  like  the  telluride  of  ethyl, 
which  is  given  off  by  the  lungs  and  skin.  Both  methyl  and  ethyl 
telluride  have  a  garlic-like  odor. 
In  this  investigation  the  breath  of  myself  which  was  exceedingly 
strongly  impregnated  with  the  garlic-like  odor,  was  for  several  hours 
passed  through  a  tall  column  of  distilled  water  contained  in  a  wash 
bottle,  and  the  water  afterward  tested  for  compounds  of  tellurium,  but 
not  even  a  trace  of  this  element  could  be  found.  However,  from  the 
minute  quantity  of  the  element  which  is  required  to  produce  this  odor 
one  would  hardly  expect  to  find  by  qualitative  testing  even  the  merest 
trace  of  the  element  in  the  breath.  Necessarily,  the  presence  of  tellu- 
rium in  such  a  minute  quantity  in  the  great  majority  of  samples  of  the 
bismuth  oxynitrate  would  prevent  its  detection  by  any  of  our  chemical 
tests.  From  this  failure  to  detect  tellurium  most  likely  have  arisen 
the  many  statements1  of  its  non-presence  in  the  commercial  bismuth 
oxynitrate.  The  physiological  test  seems  to  be  the  most  delicate  as 
has  been  shown,  that  in  this  way  as  little  as  0*0000005  gm.  or  1 2  5\  0  0 
of  a  grain  of  tellurous  oxide  equal  to  0*0000004  gm.  or  16q000  of  a 
grain  of  the  metal  may  be  detected. 
In  these  experiments  idiosyncrasy  seems  not  to  have  had  any  influence 
at  all.  Every  one  to  whom  the  tellurium  compound  was  administered 
in  sufficient  quantity  was  affected  with  the  garlic-like  odor. 
1  Dr.  Squibb,  Ephemeris,  Sept.  3882. 
