Two cases of fatal poisoning by arsenious acid : with remarks on the solubility of that poison in water and other menstrua / by Mr. Alfred S. Taylor.

  • Taylor, Alfred Swaine, 1806-1880.
Date:
1837
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Two cases of fatal poisoning by arsenious acid : with remarks on the solubility of that poison in water and other menstrua / by Mr. Alfred S. Taylor. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by Royal College of Physicians, London. The original may be consulted at Royal College of Physicians, London.

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    Case 1. A female, aged 25, was admitted into Guy’s Hospital, May 17, 1836, under the care of Mr. Cooper, suffering from sym- ptoms of poisoning by arsenic. It appears, that, about four o’clock in the afternoon of that day, she had taken a quantity of arsenic; which, from her description, must have amounted to about forty grains. She procured it in a small lump ; reduced it to a coarse powder, which she then loosely mixed with water; and in that state she swallowed it. In about an hour afterwards she became very ill, and vomited: she had pain in the stomach, great thirst, arid a sense of constriction in the throat. A medical practitioner, who was called in, admi- nistered emetics and mucilaginous drinks, from which she experienced some relief. She became worse in the course of an hour or two, and was subsequently brought to the Hospital. This was about eleven o’clock in the evening, and, therefore, about seven hours after she had taken the poison. She was then labouring under the following sym- ptoms:—the countenance was pale and anxious; the ex- tremities were cold; there was occasional vomiting; great thirst; and the tongue was moist, but very red: the pain in the stomach was not great, and not increased by pressure: the pulse was 134, very irregular, but rather full: there was no pain in the head; and her mental faculties were unimpaired. As she had, previously to her admission, taken emetics, which had acted freely, it was not thought necessary to resort to any further exhibition of them. A saponaceous