Poisons, Their Effects and Detection: A Manual for the Use of Analytical Chemists and ExpertsBlyth, Alexander Wynter
Science
Poisons, Their Effects and Detection: A Manual for the Use of Analytical Chemists and Experts
Blyth, Alexander Wynter
Poisons
No. 1049 presents the tongue, pharynx, and larynx of a man who had
swallowed a tea-cupful of nitric acid. The epithelium of the
œsophagus is for the most part wanting, and hangs in shreds; the
dorsum of the tongue, in front of the circumvallate papillæ, is
excavated, and over its central part superficially ulcerated; in
other places the tongue is encrusted with a thick, loose,
fawn-coloured layer, formed probably of desquamated epithelium. The
whole of the mucous surface is stained of a dirty yellow.
No. 1050 is a preparation showing the tongue, gullet, and stomach of
a person who died from the effects of nitric acid. The tongue in
places is smooth and glazed; in others, slightly depressed and
excavated. On the anterior wall and lower portion of the gullet two
large sloughs exist.
Although perforation of the stomach is not so common with nitric as
with sulphuric acid, such an accident may occur, as shown in a
preparation at Guy’s Hospital, in which there is a perforation at
the cardiac end. All the mucous membrane has disappeared, and the
inner surface is for the most part covered with flocculent shreds.
Three ounces of nitric acid are said to have been swallowed, and the
patient lived seventeen hours. There is the usual staining. There is
also in the Middlesex Hospital (No. 1364) the œsophagus and stomach
of a woman aged 30, who died six hours after swallowing 2 to 3 ozs.
of strong nitric acid. The inner coats of the mucous membrane of the
gullet and stomach are in part converted into opaque yellow and
black eschars, and in part to a shreddy pulpy condition. At the most
depending part of the stomach is a large ragged perforation, with
pulpy margins, which allowed the contents of the stomach to escape
into the peritoneal cavity.
In St. Bartholomew’s museum, there is a very good specimen (No.
1870) of the appearances in the gullet and stomach after poisoning
by nitric acid. The case is detailed in _St. Bartholomew’s Hospital
Reports_, vol. v. p. 247. A male died in fifteen hours after
swallowing 1 oz. of nitric acid. The whole mucous membrane is
wrinkled, or rather ploughed, into longitudinal furrows, the yellow
discoloration stops abruptly, with an irregular border, at the
commencement of the stomach, the epithelial and mucous coats of
which are wanting--its surface being rough and of a brownish-red
colour.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account