On the physiological and medicinal properties of bromine and its compounds; also on the analogies between the physiological and medicinal properties of these bodies, and those of chlorine and iodine, with their correspondent compounds / [Robert Mortimer Glover].

Robert Mortimer Glover

Date:: [1842]

Credit: On the physiological and medicinal properties of bromine and its compounds; also on the analogies between the physiological and medicinal properties of these bodies, and those of chlorine and iodine, with their correspondent compounds / [Robert Mortimer Glover]. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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$Eocpt. 16th. A middle sized mongrel dog had two ounces, by measure, of the saturated solution of bromine introduced into the stomach. He passed faeces almost immediately. In the course of an hour the respiration became affected ; salivation, coryza, and retching ensued. About the third hour the symptoms had subsid¬ ed.* This dog had the above-mentioned dose given every second or third day for a month, i. e. time was allowed for the irritation of one dose to subside before another was given. During this time he got very thin, was much purged, and acquired a great appetite. Eocpt. \lth. Eight drops of bromine were placed on the tongue of a small mongrel dog; he made efforts to reject the poison, the fumes of which were disengaged from the mouth. In the course of a few minutes the respiration became doubled in rapidity, in¬ spiration being accompanied with a mucous rattle and expiration, attended with wheezing and hiccup. The respirations gradually became slower, and the heart’s action irregular. He passed faeces repeatedly, and retched violently; the mouth and eyes watered ; the pupils became dilated ; the animal, after these symptoms had subsided (after having lasted about an hour) became greatly de¬ pressed. Remarks.—The last series of experiments were intended to exhibit the effects of the inhalation of bromine vapour, and those which are manifested on the primee vice, independent of the cor¬ rosive action, and further, to test the rapidity of the absorption of the poison, and possibly to throw some light on the question of its cumulative action, which we cannot but ask in regard to a sub¬ stance so nearly related to iodine. The purgative action of bro¬ mine is sufficiently evident on dogs, but something similar is pro¬ duced by almost all irritant and corrosive poisons. We might fancifully ascribe the vomiting and purging which take place in such cases to efforts of the vis medicatrioc naturce. It is shown that bromine passes speedily into the urine, and we may also in¬ fer from experiment 15th, that it is thus removed from the sys¬ tem. Every thing that has yet been observed with regard to bro¬ mine seems to show that, besides its primary action and the ef¬ fects of the irritation thus induced, which may be repeated so as to accumulate the deleterious influence on an animal, there can be no proper cumulative action. Compare experiment 16th with ex¬ periments on the cumulative action of iodine.* The dose of bro¬ mine administered was as great as could be given without inducing excessive irritation, which would defeat the end in view. There is similarity between the effects observed to proceed from the inhalation of chlorine, and those which are detailed in the last experiment as occasioned by bromine. This appears to be the proper place to relate the observations * See Cogswell on Iodine, pp. 60-62. B$