An army physician prescribed for a patient an emollient clyster. Since it was late at night, and the apothecary in bed, he prepared it himself; but not finding linseed oil, woke the apothecary, who took a bottle out of one of the recesses and placed it on the table. The bottle contained sulphuric acid; a soldier noticed a peculiar odour and effervescence when the syringe was charged, but this was unheeded by the doctor. The patient immediately after the operation suffered the most acute agony, and died the following day; before his death, the bedclothes were found corroded by the acid, and a portion of the bowel itself came away.[68] [68] Maschka’s _Handbuch_, p. 86; _Journal de Chimie Médicale_, t. i. No. 8, 405, 1835. §56. =Fatal Dose.=--The amount necessary to kill an adult man is not strictly known; fatality so much depends on the concentration of the acid and the condition of the person, more especially whether the stomach is full or empty, that it will be impossible ever to arrive at an accurate estimate. Christison’s case, in which 3·8 grms. (60 grains) of concentrated acid killed an adult, is the smallest lethal dose on record. Supposing that the man weighed 68½ kilo. (150 lbs.), this would be in the proportion of ·05 grm. per kilo. There is also the case of a child of one year, recorded by Taylor, in which 20 drops caused death. If, however, it were asked in a court of law what dose of concentrated sulphuric acid would be dangerous, the proper answer would be: so small a quantity as from 2 to 3 drops of the strong undiluted acid might cause death, more especially if conveyed to the back of the throat; for if it is improbable that on such a supposition death would be sudden, yet there is a possibility of permanent injury to the gullet, with the result of subsequent contraction, and the usual long and painful malnutrition thereby induced. It may be laid down, therefore, that all quantities, even the smallest, of the _strong undiluted acid_ come under the head of hurtful, noxious, and injurious. § 57. =Local Action of Sulphuric Acid.=--The action of the acid on living animal tissues has been studied of late by C. Ph. Falck and L. Vietor.[69] Concentrated acid precipitates albumen, and then redissolves it; fibrin swells and becomes gelatinous; but if the acid is weak (_e.g._, 4 to 6 per cent.) it is scarcely changed. Muscular fibre is at first coloured amber-yellow, swells to a jelly, and then dissolves to a red-brown turbid fluid. When applied to the mucous membrane of the stomach, the mucous tissue and the muscular layer beneath are coloured white, swell, and become an oily mass. [69] _Deutsche Klinik_, 1864, Mo. 1-32, and Vietor’s _Inaugur.-Dissert._, Marburg, 1803.