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
Marchand fed a dog of 17 kilos. in weight with 5 grms. of potassic
chlorate for a week. As there were no apparent symptoms, the dose
was doubled for two days; and as there was still no visible effect,
lastly, 50 grms. of sodic chlorate were given in 5 doses. In the
following night the dog died. The blood was found after death to be
of a sepia-brown colour, and remained unaltered when exposed to the
air. The organs were generally of an unnatural brown colour; the
spleen was enormously enlarged; the kidneys were swollen, and of a
dark chocolate brown--on section, almost black-brown, the colour
being nearly equal, both in the substance and in the capsule. A
microscopical examination of the kidney showed the canaliculi to be
filled with brownish cylinders consisting of altered blood. A
spectroscopic examination of the blood showed weak hæmoglobin bands,
and a narrow band in the red. With farther dilution, the hæmoglobin
bands vanished, but the band in the red remained. The diluted blood,
when exposed to the light, still remained of a coffee-brown colour;
and on shaking, a white-brown froth was produced on the surface.
A second experiment in which a hound of from 7-8 kilos. in weight
was given 3-5 grm. doses of potassic chlorate in sixteen hours, and
killed by bleeding seven to eight hours after the last dose, showed
very similar appearances. The kidneys were intensely congested, and
the peculiar brown colour was noticeable.
§ 131. =Effects on Man.=--I find in literature thirty-nine cases
recorded, in which poisonous symptoms were directly ascribed to the
action of chlorate of potassium; twenty-eight of these terminated
fatally. A quadruple instance of poisoning, recorded by Brouardel
and L’Hôte,[128] illustrates many of the points relative to the time
at which the symptoms may be expected to commence, and the general
aspect of potassic chlorate poisoning. The “_supérieure_” of a
religious institution was in the habit of giving, for charitable
purposes, a potion containing 15 grms. (3·8 drms.) of potassic
chlorate, dissolved in 360 c.c. (about 12½ ozs.) of a vegetable
infusion.
[128] _Annales d’Hygiène publique_, 1881, p. 232.
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