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
[308] This case, from the similarity of the pathological appearances to
those produced by yellow atrophy, deserves fuller notice:--“Frances A.
Cowley, aged 20, on her own admission, took some rat paste on Tuesday,
June 19th. Death ensued eleven days later. The initial symptoms were not
very marked. Nausea and vomiting continued with moderate severity for a
few days and then ceased. There ensued a feeling of depression. Towards
the end insensibility, icterus, and somewhat profuse metrorrhagia
supervened. At the necropsy the skin and conjunctivæ were observed of a
bright yellow colour. There was no organic disease save of a recent
nature, and entirely attributable to the action of the poison ingested.
The stomach contained about three-quarters of a pint of dark
claret-coloured fluid, consisting largely of blood derived from
capillary hæmorrhage from the mucous membrane. There was no solution of
continuity of the mucous membrane, which showed traces of recent
irritation. The whole surface presented a yellow icteric tint, except
the summits of some of the rugæ, which were of a bright pink colour.
There was also faint wrinkling of the mucous membrane. The upper part of
the small intestine was affected in much the same manner as the stomach.
The large intestine contained a quantity of almost colourless fæces. The
liver was shrunken, weighing only 26 ozs., and both on its outer and
sectional surface exactly resembled the appearances produced by acute
yellow atrophy, except that there were greater congestion and
interstitial hæmorrhage in patches. The lobules of the liver were in
many places unrecognisable; in others they stood in bold relief as
brilliant canary-yellow patches, standing in strong contrast to the deep
dark-red areas of congestion and extravasation. The gall-bladder
contained about 2 drachms of thin greyish fluid, apparently all but
devoid of bile. The urinary bladder was empty; the kidneys were
enlarged; the cortex was very pale and bile-stained, of greater depth
than natural, and of softer consistence. The spleen was not enlarged,
nor was it in the least degree softened. In addition to the bleeding
from the uterus noticed during life, there was capillary hæmorrhage into
the right lung and pleura, into the pericardium, and, as already
mentioned, into the stomach. The brain was healthy.”
In the Museum of the Royal College of Surgeons there is a preparation
(No. 2737) of the section of a liver derived from a case of phosphorus
poisoning.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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