Report on the effects of acrid poisons / by Thomas Hodgkin.

Date:
1836
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Report on the effects of acrid poisons / by Thomas Hodgkin. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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

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    22G FIFTH REPORT—1835. cous membrane of the stomach was corrugated, and exhibited extensive deep and bright injection, not nearly so uniformly diffused as is often the case, but most considerably affecting the rugae. The middle third was the most considerably affected, but there was no marked difference at that part which is opposed to the cardiac orifice. There was no decided abrasion, but at two or three small points the effused lymph was adhe- rent. The pyloric extremity was the least reddened, but at this part the follicular glands were elevated and very distinct. The stomach contained a considerable quantity of watery bilious fluid, and a mass which appeared chiefly to consist of a coagulated secretion resembling the plastic lymph on the surface of an inflamed serous membrane. It was about the size of the palm of one’s hand, and had very strongly re- ceived the impression of the rugae of the stomach, and the surface in contact with the lining membrane closely resembled it in colour and in the distribution of the extravasated blood intimately intermixed with it on this surface. The other surface resembled common coagulable lymph, but entangled in it there was a fragment of what appeared to be par- tially dissolved cheese, mixed with numerous particles of white opake matter. A small quantity taken from this part, dried and mixed with black flux and heated, afforded a distinct trace of sublimed metallic ar- senic. Another portion, reduced on charcoal before the blowpipe, yielded the alliaceous odour. There was a diffused and light but not bright redness of the duodenum. A similar condition, but in a much less marked degree, was observable throughout the small intestines, in which the solitary glands were particularly distinct •, there was scarcely any faecal matter in the canal, but there was abundance of secretion, which in its character appeared intermediate between ordinary mucus and coagulable lymph. There was a slight degree of oedema of the sub- mucous cellular membrane. The large intestines were of a more natu- ral appearance. The mucous membrane was generally pale, but there was a manifest increase of redness about the verge of the anus. Many of the mesenteric glands were much enlarged. The structure of the liver appeared to be healthy, with the exception of some scattered ecchy- mosed spots, obviously of recent formation, and a little dappling of a lighter colour. The gall-bladder was distended with rather dilute bile. The spleen and pancreas were healthy, as were also the kidneys and bladder, excepting some increased vascularity of the mucous membrane of the bladder near the cervix at the posterior part. The points worthy of remark in this case appear to be: 1st, That though a considerable quantity of arsenic had been taken, the symptoms which followed were not proportionably urgent and rapid. For this there appeared to have been at least two causes. The cheese in which the arsenic was involved having resisted digestion, seems to have pre- vented much of the arsenic from coming in contact with the stomach. The food which was taken almost immediately after the swallowing of the poison may have also acted in a similar manner. It may also have had the effect of exciting the healthy action of the stomach by setting up the digestive process: this appears to be analogous to what takes place in horses which have eaten the leaves of the yew tree, which are