2. _Consecutive Poisoning._ Where the patient, having recovered from the acute effects occasioned by the ingestion of a single dose of poison, _subsequently suffers a series of symptoms from the injured structure to which it had given origin_. By referring to our definition of _slow_ poisoning, we shall at once perceive the striking and important distinction between that and _Consecutive poisoning_. The following case, related by M. _Orfila_, may serve as an illustration. _Maria Ladan_ drank by mistake a spoonful of _Aqua fortis_, the most violent symptoms supervened, but which by judicious treatment gradually subsided, when at length she passed by stool a long membranous substance, rolled up, and which represented the form of the æsophagus and stomach, and which, in fact, was found to be the interior membrane of these organs; from that moment the sensibility of the digestive organs became excessive, and two months after the accident she experienced a sudden shock and died. M. _Tartra_, in observing upon cases of this kind, asserts that the symptoms produced at first by the nitric acid decrease insensibly; and that at the end of a certain period, the internal membrane of the digestive canal is struck with death, and thrown off, and the person dies of a _Marasmus_. _Fordyce_[149] relates the case of a woman who was subject to cholics for the space of thirty years, in consequence of having _once_ taken an infusion of the pulp of Colocynth prepared with beer. This was undoubtedly an extraordinary instance of idiosyncrasy, but it is probable that some organic lesion was occasioned by its operation, to which the subsequent suffering is to be referred. We have hitherto only considered the effects that may arise from the ingestion of a _single_ dose of poison, but there are numerous and very interesting cases in which fatal results have been produced by the repetition of small doses at various intervals. We therefore propose a third, and new subdivision of our subject, viz. 3. _Accumulative Poisoning._—By the repeated administration of a substance, in doses, of which no single one could occasion harm; but which, by gradually accumulating in the system, ultimately occasions disease, and death. The familiar operation of mercury will at once suggest itself to the Physician, as a striking illustration of that species of poisoning which we have ventured to name _Accumulative_, and to the forensic student the effects of this metal, in reference to such a quality, will form a more than ordinary object of interest, as involving questions which have frequently embarrassed judicial inquiry; as, for instance, _Whether it can lie dormant any considerable time without betraying its effects upon the constitution_, and, having displayed its powers, and the symptoms having subsided, viz. salivation, &c. _Whether they can be renewed without a fresh application of the substance?_ See Corrosive sublimate.