Chemical and medical researches on kreosote : its preparation, properties, and use / by E. Miguet ; translated from the French by William Wetherill.

  • Miguet, E.
Date:
1835
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Chemical and medical researches on kreosote : its preparation, properties, and use / by E. Miguet ; translated from the French by William Wetherill. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the National Library of Medicine (U.S.), through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the National Library of Medicine (U.S.)

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    then seized with a violent cough, convulsive startings, which were much augmented by the discharges already abundant of frothy saliva, which formed on each side of the lower jaw salivary globes the size of a chicken's egg ; the respiration was short, whining and inter- rupted ; the breath hot; to all these phenomena were still joined, eructations and nausea, accompanied with violent spasmodic retrac- tion of the abdominal muscles, and vomiting of a milky matter;* he remained about two hours in this painful situation without much alteration, but the symptoms by degrees were aggravated to such an extent as to threaten suffocation ; respiration became more and more laborious ; the intervals between expiration and inspiration were much longer; the limbs were seized with trembling, afterwards with contraction, and then followed the suspension of the exercise of all the functions. Post mortem examination, which was immediately made, demon- strated to me some very remarkable organic injuries. Every tissue, except the liver, exhaled strongly the smell of Kreosote. The mu- cous membrane of the alimentary canal showed almost throughout its whole extent, traces of inflammation; it was spread over with red spots, some large, others small. The matter contained in the stomach, when placed in contact with the white of an egg, immedi- ately coagulated it; by heating, a dense smoke was produced, hav- ing the decided smell of Kreosote; these appearances seemed to me sufficient to establish the presence of Kreosote in cases of poison- ing, and I did not try it by any re-agent. The cavity of the heart contained three or four small clots of red and clear blood. In those vessels near the centre of circulation, the blood seemed to have coagulated in a greater degree than under ordinary circumstances. The lungs, for the most part, were filled with reddish brown blood; those parts which were of a light red colour, floated on wa- ter in which they were placed: those of a deep red, descended slowly to the bottom, and were with difficulty again brought to the surface. The brain offered no signs either of congestion or haemorrhage. A mixture of equal parts of water and of Kreosote, injected into the carotid artery of another young dog, produced nearly analogous effects, only the termination was much more immediate. * He had taken no nourishment since the night previous.