Final report of the Royal Commission appointed to inquire into arsenical poisoning from the consumption of beer and other articles of food or drink. Pt. 1, Final report.

  • Great Britain. Royal Commission on Arsenical Poisoning.
Date:
1903
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Final report of the Royal Commission appointed to inquire into arsenical poisoning from the consumption of beer and other articles of food or drink. Pt. 1, Final report. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    17/56 (page 13)
    So far as the particular organs examined are concerned, these results accord with the generally-accepted view that arsenic is a poison which, asa rule, is eliminated comparatively rapidly from the body—by con- trast, for example, with such a “cumulative” poison as lead, which, when taken in small doses over long periods, becomes stored in the liver and elsewhere. '* 34. On the other hand the clinical data obtained during the epidemic show that arsenic can only be termed a “non-cumulative” poison in a restricted and comparative sense. It is necessary for their explana- tion to assume that when small quantities of arsenic are taken over long periods, accumulation does take place in certain tissues. Many of the cases admitted to hospital in 1900 continued to show increasing signs of poisoning for weeks after beer bad been discontinued. In some cases there was a recurrence of symptoms of arsenical poisoning after the patient had almost recovered, no beer or arsenic having been taken for many weeks. An examination of the urine in several cases showed that arsenic could be detected three weeks or more after the patient had been admitted to hospital, while in an exceptional in- stance Dr. Dixon Mann found arsenic in the urine after fifty-nine days. | | ; __ 35. Important observations have been made in several cases regarding the numerous ways in which arsenic may be eliminated from the body. Arsenic was detected in sweat, in the epidermic scales which are freely shed in the condition known as keratosis, in nails, and in hair. It appears probable, as Dr. Dixon Mann has pointed out, that epidermic tissues which principally consist of keratin, have a special affinity for arsenic, and that the effect of arsenic upon nerve tissue may be related to the fact that nerve sheaths consist largely of keratin. Elimination of Arsenic by the Hair. Raw, 6327-33. Kelynaek, 3571. Mann, 3731-3. Raw, 6336-40. Reynolds, 8450-3. Vol. J., Index, ‘“ Elimina- tion.” Reynolds, 8296-814. Appx. 16, p. 188. Mann, 3737. special interest. If it were established that persons taking compara- hair to an extent which is readily appreciable by chemical tests, examina- tion of hair might be of much value in cases where it is important to obtain indications of the past history of a patient in regard of arsenic. Accordingly we took steps to obtain, with the aid of the Medical Registrars of certain London Hospitals, and the Medical Superin- tendents of certain London Infirmaries, samples of hair from patients who had taken arsenic in known amounts over known periods of time, together with suitable controls, and we engaged the services of Mr. R. F. Wood Smith to analyse these hair samples for arsenic. | 37. The results of these experiments, reported in Appendix No. 82, are instructive. Out of a total of 41 control cases, principally hospital and infirmary in-patients, both males and females, who had been taking no arsenic medicinally, the hair of 38 was either free from arsenic according to the tests employed, or showed no more than ;}oth grain of arsenic per pound of hair (0°96 parts per million). Only three showed larger amounts (viz., 4th, ;yth, and .4,th grain per pound, respectively). Samples of hair were obtained from the same cases after they had taken arsenie medicinally. Male patients who had been taking three minims of liquor arsenicalis three times a day (about 5th grain of arsenic daily), at the end of two months showed amounts of arsenic varying from y!5th grain to 4th grain per pound in hair which had grown during the interval, with the exception of one case which showed jth grain per pound. Male patients taking smaller amounts of arsenic medicinally—three minims or four and a-half minims of iguor arsenicalis (s!srd and 3nd grain of arsenic) daily—for two months, also showed notable amounts of arsenic, varying from .4th to ;th grain per pound in their recently- grown. hair. In the case of female patients under like conditions, considerable difficulty arose in obtaining samples which represented the hair