Chapter XIII: Part 13

We shall, therefore, observe, with regard to the habitual use of fermented liquors, that the bodily evils which arise from the custom rather depend upon the quality, or, in other words, the state of combination in which the alcohol exists in such liquors, than on the absolute quantity of the libation, or the frequency with which it is repeated. Daily experience convinces us that the same quantity of alcohol applied to the stomach under the form of wine, and in a state of mixture with water, will produce very different effects upon the living body, as well with reference to the immediate symptoms, as to the remote consequences of the potation; it has, for instance, been clearly demonstrated that port, madeira, and sherry, contain from one-fourth to one-fifth their bulk of alcohol;[471] so that a person who takes a bottle of either of these wines, will thus take nearly half a pint of pure alcohol, which is equivalent to a pint of brandy! The remote consequences too of alcohol in these different states, are as striking and distinct as their immediate effects. It is well known that diseases of the liver are the most common, and the most formidable of those produced by the use of _ardent_ spirits; it is equally certain that no such disorders follow the intemperate use of wine that is perfectly _pure_; let it be remembered that the greater proportion of that which is drunk in this country contains uncombined brandy, purposely added to meet the demand of the British market; and _Dr. MacCulloch_ thinks that it is to the unwitting and concealed consumption of this uncombined spirit, that we ought to attribute the prevalence of those hepatic affections which are comparatively little known to our continental neighbours. But although wine, in a state of purity, may be thus fairly excluded from the general obloquy which attaches to spirituous potations, it must not be regarded as entirely free from imputation. “The effects of wine,” says _Rush_ “like those of tyranny in a well formed government, are first felt in the extremities; while spirits, like a bold invader, seize at once upon the vitals of the constitution.” And even with respect to ardent spirits, although they can only be regarded as diluted alcohol, still each species appears to possess a peculiarity of operation; owing, no doubt, to the modifying influence of the other elements of the liquid; thus _brandy_[472] is said to be cordial and stomachic; _rum_ more heating and sudorific; _gin_ and _whiskey_, diuretic; and _arrack_, styptic, heating, and narcotic. It seems also that a modified effect is produced by the addition of various other substances, such as sugar and acids; which latter bodies, besides their anti-narcotic powers, appear to act by favouring a more perfect combination and mutual penetration of the particles of spirit and water. The effects also which are produced by the habitual use of fermented liquors differ essentially according to the kind that is drunk; thus ale and porter, in consequence of the nutritive matter, and perhaps the invigorating bitter with which they are charged, and the comparatively small proportion of alcohol which they contain, dispose to plethora, which is sometimes terminated by apoplexy.[473]

_Symptoms of Poisoning by Alcohol._

The ordinary effects of an excessive dose of any spirituous liquor are too well known to require description; and generally pass off without the necessity of professional interference. In cases, however, where the draught has been very large, the person has suddenly fallen down in a state of complete insensibility, and has exhibited all the phenomena of apoplexy; or, in some instances, he has expired almost immediately. The insensibility of the patient may render it difficult for the practitioner to distinguish the immediate cause of the symptoms; although his history for the last few hours, and the spirituous odour of his breath, will generally announce the true nature of his situation. _Mr. Brodie_ observes that there is a striking analogy between the symptoms arising from the ingestion of spirits, and those produced by injuries of the brain; concussion of the brain, which may be considered the slightest degree of injury, occasions a state of mind resembling intoxication; pressure on the brain, which is a more severe injury than concussion, produces loss of motion, insensibility, dilation of the pupils, laborious and stertorous respiration, and death.

_Physiological Action of Alcohol._

We shall not enter into the history of the slow operation of repeated doses of spirit upon the human body; but limit our present inquiry to the _modus operandi_ of this agent, as a quick and destructive poison.

Large draughts of liquids containing alcohol, would appear to destroy, at once, the functions of the brain, without occasioning that previous stage of excitement, which is produced by smaller quantities of spirit—whence coma and insensibility are the immediate consequences; and the nervous energy being no longer conveyed to the muscles of respiration, the breathing becomes laborious, and the patient dies, as he does in apoplexy, for want of those changes in the blood which are produced by the respiratory functions.[474] In the greater number, however, of fatal cases of inebriety, life has been destroyed by circumstances purely accidental; such as improvident exposure to cold, as explained at _page_ 59, or suffocation from an imperfect act of vomiting, during which a portion of the contents of the stomach are forced into the trachea, (_see page_ 58,[475].) It having then been clearly established that the brain is the organ principally affected by a large dose of alcohol, it remains to be explained in what manner, and through what medium such an effect is produced; upon this question we are inclined to concur with _Mr. Brodie_, and to consider that alcohol acts sympathetically on the brain by means of the nerves of the stomach; for it has been observed that animals which die under such circumstances, exhibit a decided inflammation of the stomach; and, in the next place, the effects produced by this agent are too instantaneous to admit the possibility of absorption, while repeated instances have shewn that vomiting will often restore the intoxicated individual to his senses. At the same time, we think it very probable that, upon some occasions, the alcohol passes into the current of the circulation, and is thus carried to remote organs. _Dr. Cooke_[476] has related a case, on the authority of _Sir A. Carlisle_, of a person who was brought dead into the Westminster hospital, in consequence of having drunk a quart of gin for a wager, at a draught; and that upon examination, a considerable quantity of a limpid fluid was found within the lateral ventricles of the brain, _distinctly impregnated with gin_. We well remember this case, for it occurred during the period that the author of the present work held the situation of physician to that hospital. See _Pharmacologia_, vol. 1, p. 138.

_Treatment of Persons in a State of Inebriety._

In the first instance we should endeavour to evacuate the stomach; for which purpose a brisk emetic of sulphate of zinc, or tartarised antimony may be administered. Blood should also be taken from the jugular vein, or temporal artery; more especially if there appear a considerable determination of blood to the head. The head should be also washed with cold water, or some evaporating lotion.

For reasons which we have already explained, the patient should be carefully preserved in a warm atmosphere; and his body should be placed in an easy reclining posture, and be disencumbered of all tight bandages. These precautions are of the utmost moment, for many of those cases of inebriety which stand recorded in our journals, have terminated fatally, for want of attention to them.

ANIMAL POISONS.

This extensive kingdom of Nature presents us with a variety of objects destructive to human life; their agency, however, is on many occasions involved in impenetrable obscurity, and we are not even able to discover whether their deleterious effects depend upon certain definite principles, or upon the combination of circumstances connected with the individuals upon whom they act; and which thus render many substances _relatively_ poisonous, that are innocuous to the general mass of mankind. With regard to the chemical laws by which animal compounds are governed, and the principles upon which their analysis may be conducted, the same observations will apply as those with which we introduced the consideration of vegetable poisons.

Cl. IV. SEPTIC POISONS.

THE BITES OF VENOMOUS ANIMALS.

Of the whole class of serpents, which according to _Linnæus_ contains 132 species, _Plenck_ assures us that only 24 are venomous. Of these, Europe has only 5, and England but 2; all of which are vipers, viz. _Coluber Aspis_; _C. Chersea_; _C. Prester_ (_black viper_, peculiar to England); _C. Illyricus_ (inhabits the mountains of Sclavonia); _C. Berus_, (the common viper of Germany, Spain, Italy, and England.)

The venom of the viper is contained in a bag situated on both sides of the head, beneath the muscle of the superior jaw; it is secreted from the blood by a gland which lies just behind the orbit of the eye; from which a duct proceeds to the above-mentioned bag; in the upper jaw are situated two moveable teeth, very sharp towards the point, and hollowed nearly throughout their length. When the animal intends to bite, he presses the bag by means of the muscle, the venom comes out, arrives at the base of the tooth, passes through the sheath which envelopes it, and enters into its cavity by a hole which is found at this base; then it flows along the hollow of the tooth, and issues into the wound by the opening which is near its end, for the point itself is solid and sharp, in order that it may better penetrate the flesh of its victim. If these fangs be removed, or their structure destroyed, the viper is necessarily rendered harmless; whence _Galen_ has observed that the mountebanks used to stop these perforations of the teeth with some kind of paste, whenever they suffered the vipers to bite them before spectators.

_Symptoms occasioned by the Bite of a Viper._

Acute pain in the wounded part, attended with almost immediate tumefaction; the part appears first red, and then livid; the local affection extends itself, and the surrounding skin becomes similarly affected. The pulse is small, frequent, and irregular; the respiration is disturbed; the patient complains of great debility, and faintness which often amounts to syncope; vomiting takes place; pain is felt in the umbilical region, and he becomes jaundiced; and, in fatal cases, the wound assumes a malignant character, and gangrene takes place.

In this country the affection is rarely mortal,[477] although the circumstances of constitutional debility, unusual heat of season, and injudicious treatment, have in several instances led to a fatal issue.

_Physiological action of the Poison of Vipers._

The result of numerous experiments justify us in referring this poison to the second division of our classification. The symptoms which it produces evidently depend on its absorption, and its passage into the circulation, when it exerts its peculiar action on the blood. It is somewhat singular that this poison should be perfectly inert when taken into the stomach; a fact, however, which appears to have been well known from the earliest periods; whence such wounds were commonly sucked[478] with impunity; and we learn that when _Cato_ marched the remains of _Pompey’s_ army through Africa, he very wisely informed the soldiers, who, although dying from thirst, feared to drink the waters which contained serpents, that no evil could arise from such indulgence.[479]

“Noxia Serpentum est admisto sanguine Pestis,
Morsu Virus habent, et Fatum Dente minantur,
Pocula Morte carent”----

Among the insects of Britain some will be found to possess fluids highly stimulant, and sometimes, although rarely, occasioning death. These British insects, however, cannot be compared in virulence with the _Furia Infernalis_, _Pulex Penetrans_, the _Scorpion_, and the _Tarantula_; but their natural history is nevertheless interesting, and the instances of mischief arising from an application of their venom are not unimportant. Of the genus _Vespa_ we have three species, each of which possesses the property of producing violent and painful inflammation, sometimes followed by considerable danger, where the injury has been inflicted on parts of great sensibility, and in irritable habits, viz. Vespa _Crabro_, the _hornet_; V. _Vulgaris_, _common wasp_; C. _Coarctata_, _small wasp_. Instances are recorded of the wasp, having been introduced into the mouth with fruit, and produced by its sting on the _velum palati_ a sudden swelling which has so intercepted the respiration as to occasion suffocation.[480] Of the _Apis_ there are seven British species; the most remarkable of which are the Apis _Rufa_, or _small field bee_; A. _Mellifica_, _the common hive bee_; A. _Terrestris_, _humble bee_; and A. _Subterranea_, or _great humble bee_.

The sting of a single bee cannot be regarded as attended with danger, except in certain constitutions; but there are many instances of men and animals having suffered most terribly, and even fatally, by an attack of a swarm of these insects.

The supposed poison of the toad is a subject which we have already disposed of, under the literary history of poisons, _page_ 139.

PUTRESCENT ANIMAL MATTER.

A question has long since arisen, how far the ingestion of animal matter, in a state of putrefaction, is liable to affect the health? On the one hand it has been maintained that the custom of eating game, venison, and other species of animal food, in a state of incipient putrescence, has never been attended with any inconvenience; but appears, on the contrary, to afford a repast of easier digestion, than the flesh of recently killed animals. On the other hand, it has been asserted by _Foderé_,[481] and corroborated by the testimony of others, that corrupted meat, fish, and eggs, are undoubted poisons; if, through inadvertence, necessity, or extreme hunger, they are taken in any quantity. The same distinguished writer relates that, during the siege of Mantua, several persons who were shut up in the town were seized with gangrene of the extremities, and scurvy, in consequence of having been driven to the alternative of eating the half putrid flesh of horses. In _Crantz’s_ history of Greenland we read an account of the death of thirty-two persons, at a missionary station, called Kangek, shortly after a repast upon the putrid brains of a Walrus.

It would appear that under circumstances not hitherto understood, certain parts of animal bodies become poisonous; and the _virus_ would not seem to be connected with any stage of putrefaction, nor with any previous disease in the animal. As far as our limited experience upon this subject will allow us to generalize, the brain and the viscera would appear to be particularly susceptible of such a change. Some curious and highly interesting observations have lately been published by _Dr. Kerner_, of Wurtemberg, respecting the probable existence of a species of animal poison not hitherto known. He informs us that the smoked sausages, which constitute so favourite a repast to the inhabitants of Wurtemberg, often cause fatal poisoning. The effects of the poison occasionally manifest themselves in the spring, generally in the month of April, in a degree more or less alarming. He states that out of _seventy-six_ persons, who became sick from having eaten such sausages, _thirty-seven_ died in a short time, and that several others remained ill for years. Upon these occasions it has been observed, that the most virulent sausages were made of liver. _M. Cadet_, of Paris, analysed all the meats, examined all the vessels in which they had been prepared; and inspected the matters vomited, or found in the stomach after death, without being able to trace the vestige of any known poison; nor was there the slightest evidence in these cases of malevolence or negligence. Similar accidents have occurred at different periods in Paris; upon which occasions, the police officers visited the pig dealers, and were perfectly assured that the animals had never been fed with unwholesome food; the use of poison for rats, with which these places abound, was interdicted, and every precaution taken. What then, asks _M. Cadet_, is this poison found in sausage meats—is it Prussic acid—is it a new matter? It is evidently not the effect of putrefaction, since it exists in meats perfectly well preserved. To the above queries of _M. Cadet_, the author of the present work begs to add one more—may not the skin enclosing the sausage meat be the part in which the poison resides? It is well known that the bodies of animals who die of various diseases, are capable of communicating fatal diseases to the human species; and experience has shewn that such animal poison is particularly energetic in those parts that are commonly called the _offals_, in which term are included the intestines; in the history of _fish-poison_, which will hereafter offer itself to our notice, we shall find numerous instances of dogs, cats, hogs, and birds, dying from eating these parts, while persons, who have partaken of the fish to which these _offals_ belonged, remained uninjured. But to account for the deleterious change of which these parts appear to be occasionally susceptible, it does not appear necessary to suppose that the animal died in a state of disease. _Captain Scoresby_, in his “Account of the Arctic regions,”[482] states that although the flesh of the bear is both agreeable and wholesome, the liver of that animal is poisonous; sailors who had inadvertently eaten it, were almost always sick afterwards, and some actually died; while in others the cuticle has peeled off their bodies. The ancients appear to have entertained a fear with regard to the wholesomeness of the viscera of certain animals, and of the fluids which they secrete. _Pliny_ says that the gall of a horse was accounted poison; and, therefore, at the sacrifices of horses in Rome, it was unlawful for the _Flamen_ (priest) to touch it. _Mr. Brodie_ has lately favoured the author with the communication of a fact, which goes far to support the theory we have offered with respect to the possible source of poison in sausages. He states that he has twice met with evidence of the acrid and poisonous nature of “_dog’s meat_,” as sold in the streets of London, which manifested itself by producing ulcerations, of a peculiar character, on the hands, and swelling in the axillæ, of the venders! May we venture to ask whether the prosecution of this inquiry might not possibly lead to some new and important conclusions respecting the origin of hydrophobia?

Where animals have died from disease, their flesh has undoubtedly produced affections by external contact, as well as by its ingestion. At the Somerset assizes in 1819, a case was tried, whose merits wholly turned upon the question now under discussion. A cow, having died of some disease, was thrown into the river Yeo, and several cattle that afterwards drank of the water died of a similar complaint. An action was accordingly brought against the owner of the cow for damages. The defendant, however, obtained a verdict, apparently from the evidence of a medical person, who asserted that animal matter in a state of putrefaction will not communicate contagion. But we must here beg to observe that this is quite another and distinct question; the merits of which we have already considered.[483] The physiological question involved in the preceding case, is whether the carcase of an animal, whose fluids have been depraved by antecedent disease, is capable, or not, of producing morbid and fatal affections in the living animals with which it may come in contact? The facts collected by _MM. Enaux_ and _Chaussier_, in their work entitled “_Methode de traiter les Morsures des Animaux enragés_,” prove in a very satisfactory manner that the _Anthrax_, or _Malignant Pustule_, has for its cause a _septic virus_ engendered in diseased animals, and transmitted to man.[484] The following are amongst the more striking examples cited from these authors by _Orfila_. “A shepherd bled one of his sheep, which had just died suddenly; he carried it home on his shoulders; but the blood penetrated his shirt, and was rubbed upon his loins. Two days after, a _malignant pustule_ appeared upon this spot.”

“A boy employed in skinning an ox which had been killed at an inn at _Gatinais_, because it had been sick, put the knife into his mouth. Shortly after which the tongue swelled; he experienced a tightness of the chest; the whole body was covered with pustules, and he died on the fourth day, in a state of general gangrene. The inn-keeper, who was pricked in the middle of the hand by a bone of the same animal, suffered great pain; gangrene seized the arm, and he expired on the seventh day. The servant girl received on her right cheek a few drops of the blood of the same ox, which produced inflammation, followed by gangrene.”

In this country, a case has occurred highly illustrative of the present subject. A pupil of the veterinary college accidentally inoculated himself, during his dissection, with the matter of a _glandered_ horse; the student soon experienced the usual symptoms of a septic poison; abscesses formed in various parts of his body, and he sank under the disease. Upon inoculating a healthy horse with some of the matter from the abscesses, the animal was attacked with the glanders.

This subject necessarily leads us to the notice of those effects which are frequently produced in the anatomist, by a puncture made during dissection. From the history of those cases which stand recorded, it does not appear that the poisonous effects are either connected with the putrefactive state of the body under dissection, or with the peculiar disease of which it died; but rather with the depraved state of the operator’s health; for it has been repeatedly remarked that those students who enjoy high health universally escape the evil, however repeatedly they may have been exposed to its causes.

POISONOUS FISHES.

The number and validity of recorded cases establish the fact, beyond dispute, that certain fish, especially the muscle, (_Mytilus Edulis_) and others of the shell tribe, have occasionally proved fatal to those who have eaten them; but it has been doubted whether such effects have arisen from a specific poison, or from the peculiar state of the stomach,[485] or idiosyncrasy of constitution, in the persons affected. In other words, ought we to consider the fish, so circumstanced, as an _absolute_ or _relative_ poison? Each of these theories has met with its advocates, and many striking facts and illustrations have been adduced in their support. The weight of authority, however, as well as of argument, strongly inclines in favour of the existence of a specific virus, generated under circumstances which we are at present unable to appreciate. At the same time, it would be vain to deny, that certain fishes are more obnoxious to the stomach of one individual than to that of another; there are, for instance, those persons who are disordered whenever they eat a muscle; others who are incapable of taking an oyster without considerable disturbance of the digestive functions. This is obviously _Idiosyncrasy_, and must not be confounded with those cases where a number of persons have been simultaneously affected from a particular food, which, on all former occasions, had been eaten by the same individuals with perfect security. We must, therefore, at the very outset of our inquiry, admit the occasional action of these articles of diet as _relative_ poisons; although it is evident to demonstration, that an _absolute_ virus is generated in particular fishes, by the operation of causes hitherto unknown.

As a subject, highly important in its relations to maritime œconomy, the history of fish-poison constitutes an interesting branch of naval hygiene; instructions, therefore, for its investigation, ought always to be given to the naturalists and chemists who may be appointed to attend voyages of discovery. The notice of the scientific men who accompanied _Peyrouse_ was officially directed to this important object; but the unhappy fate of that celebrated adventurer rendered the commission fruitless. The obscurity which attends this branch of toxicology has in many cases occasioned a corresponding degree of credulity; and sailors, as well as others, entertain an unfounded prejudice against various fish, that are not only innocuous, but even useful as articles of food. It would, however, appear that those which are harmless in one latitude may prove poisonous in another; it may be stated generally, that fish are more deleterious within the tropics, than in other seas. In torrid regions the softest kinds are the most susceptible of that change which renders them poisonous, and hence the policy of the Hebrew legislator becomes apparent; “_whatsoever has no fins nor scales in the waters, that shall be an abomination unto you._” Levit. c. xi, v. 12, and Deut. cxiv, v. 9, 10.

The most complete history of this intricate subject, and of the dissertations to which it has given rise, is to be found in the _Edinburgh Medical and Surgical Journal_,[486] by _Dr. Chisholm_, who has brought together, and cited a great number of authorities, biblical and classical, foreign and domestic, for its illustration. An interesting paper is also published on the same subject in the _Medical Repository_,[487] by _Dr. Burrows_. To the above sources we must beg to refer the reader who is desirous of farther information than can be afforded him by the present work.

_Symptoms of Fish-poisoning._

Nausea; thirst; tormina of the bowels; vomiting; an eruption on the skin, resembling the nettle-rash; tumefaction of the face; head-ache; difficult respiration; distention of the abdomen; sometimes _cholera morbus_; vertigo; delirium; cold sweats; convulsions; death. Such is the train of symptoms, liable of course, to variation in the order of succession, which are produced by the ingestion of fish-poison, as occasionally existing in salmon, herrings, eels, mackarel, many of the testaceous and most of the crustaceous fish of this country; and in a great number of fish[488] inhabiting the tropical seas.

The species of fish, from which deleterious effects have more commonly arisen in this country, are the _Mytilus Edulis_, or muscle. _Dr. Burrows_ has given us an account of two cases of death from eating these fish, which occurred at Gravesend, under the care of _Mr. Rogers_, surgeon of that place, upon whose authority the statement is drawn up.[489] The subjects of the history were two youths of the ages of nine and fourteen, who had each eaten about a dozen of small muscles, which they had picked from the side of a fishing smack, in a dead and tainted state. In the _Gazette de Santé_,[490] and in the works of _Fodéré_,[491] and _Behren_,[492] similar cases are recorded. _Vancouver_,[493] in his voyage to the coast of America, relates that several of his men were ill from eating some muscles which they had collected and roasted for breakfast; in an hour after which they complained of numbness of the face and extremities, sickness, and giddiness. Three were more affected than the others, and one of them died.

_Origin of Fish-poison._

If we admit that the symptoms which are occasionally produced by the ingestion of certain fish, depend upon the presence of poison, we have next to inquire into its nature and origin. _Dr. Burrows_ considers that all the opinions which have been advanced upon this subject may, for the greater perspicuity and facility of discussion, be arranged under seven heads, viz. does the poison exist—1. _In the skin?_—2. _In the stomach and intestinal canal?_—3. _In the liver or gall bladder?_—4. _In the entire substance of the fish?_—5. _In the food of fishes?_—6. _Is it a morbid change in the system of the fish?_—7. _Is it a poison, sui generis?_

Upon these several questions _Dr. Burrows_ has offered some observations. There do not appear to be any facts which can induce us to consider that the poison resides only in the skin.

Experience has shewn that the _virus_ is particularly energetic in the viscera, commonly called the _offals_; and yet there are no grounds for concluding that it exclusively belongs to these parts. _Captain Cook_, and _Messrs. Forster_ were poisoned by eating a piece of the liver only of a species of _tetrodon_; yet they who ate of its substance were also poisoned.

An opinion has long prevailed that the poisonous principle is derived from the substances upon which the fish feeds; and that of muscles, in particular, from copper; this latter hypothesis has received the sanction of _Dr. Chisholm_. We however agree with _Dr. Burrows_ in considering that it has neither the support of observation or analogy. _Dr. Beune_ has supposed that the acrid principle is no other than the spawn of the _stella marina_, an insect which very commonly lodges in the muscle. It seems, however, more probable that it is a product of decomposition, but which requires the concurrence of certain circumstances for its developement.

Before we conclude the history of septic poisons, there appears to be a species of death, particularly noticed by _Dr. Gordon Smith_,[494] which merits our attention, as having some relation to this class of agents—the fact of persons having been “_eaten to death by maggots_!” Such a death has been assigned to _Sylla_, by _Plutarch_; and to _Antiochus Epiphanes_, by _Josephus_, and the writer of the book of Maccabees. The fate of _Herod_ is ascertained by Scripture. In modern history we have similar instances in _Charles_ IX of France, and _Philip_ II of Spain.

Numerous cases are recorded, in different medical works,[495] of the generation of maggots, _i. e._ the _larvæ_ of different species of fly, not only in external sores and excoriations, but in the internal cavities of the human body. _Dr. Lempriere_[496] has related the case of an officer’s lady, who had gone through an acute fever, but in whom these maggots were produced, which burrowed, and found their way by the nose through the _os cribriforme_, into the cavity of the cranium, and afterwards into the brain itself, to which she owed her death. But of all the cases of this kind, that related by _Dr. Gordon Smith_ is of the most revolting kind. “In the month of July 1809, a man was found near Finglas, in Ireland, lying under the wall of a lime-kiln, at an early hour in the evening, with his face on the ground, apparently dead. On turning him on his back to ascertain the real state of the case, it was discovered that he was yet alive, but under the most appalling circumstances. On removing his coat, the whole surface of his body appeared to be a moving mass of worms. His face was considerably injured as if from a fall, or bruises; his eyes were dissolved, and their cavities, as well as those of the ears, nose, and mouth, were filled with a white living mass, from which such innumerable quantities of maggots were continually pouring out, that the skull seemed to be filled with nothing else. After some time he recovered strength enough to walk, and regained recollection and voice sufficient to tell who he was, where he lived, and how he had been brought into that situation. It appeared that he was returning home upon a car the evening before; having drank to excess, he fell off, and remained in a state of insensibility until he was discovered. He could neither account for the wounds in his head, nor for his being so far from the road; but it appeared probable that he had received the contusion from the fall, and had insensibly crawled to the place where he lay. It was conjectured that the state of the atmosphere, as to humidity and temperature, had brought on a solution of the solids in the bruised parts, already disposed to putrescency, and now in close contact with the moist earth. In these, the eggs of innumerable insects being deposited, their generation proceeded with rapidity under circumstances so favourable. Every attention was paid to the unfortunate individual; he was removed to shelter, the parts were washed with spirits and vinegar, and the loathsome objects removed, as far as was possible. Cordials were poured down his throat, but he swallowed with difficulty; and in a very short time spasms took place which prevented him from swallowing altogether. The putrescence advanced; in a short time he became insensible; and about noon the following day he died, in a state of total _putrisolution_.”

AERIAL POISONS.

Under this division we include all those deleterious substances which can be administered through the medium of the atmosphere.

Those gases, the respiration of which occasions death by the negative operation of excluding oxygen, are not ranked under the class of poisons, for the history of such bodies involves physiological views peculiar to themselves, and belongs more correctly to the subject of suffocation, under which head it has already met with full consideration, _vol._ 2, _p._ 48.

_Aërial poisons_ are of very undefined extent, and their history is involved in considerable obscurity. Every poison, capable of volatilization, may be admitted into the division; and even those substances which are generally regarded as fixed, may be mechanically suspended in the air, and thus produce their effects on the living system, through the medium of the lungs, stomach, or nerves. In the present state of our knowledge, we have, perhaps, only an imperfect idea of the distinction between a fixed and a volatile body. A very interesting paper on this subject was read before the Royal Academy of Berlin, by _Professor Hermbstaed_,[497] in which he observes that, generally speaking, we might consider all bodies as volatile, as it is most probable that, could we produce a sufficient degree of heat, no substance could resist it. The professor also states that many bodies, hitherto considered as fixed, are actually volatilized at the temperature of boiling water; such he found to be _lime_, _baryta_, _strontia_, and _potass_. We apprehend, however, that the professor has, in these instances, mistaken a phenomenon for _volatility_, which it is highly important to distinguish from it, viz. _the elevation of a certain portion of a fixed body, by the carrying power of a vapour_; thus, fixed oil may, in a minute proportion, be carried up with the steam of water. Certain bodies, however, which have been long considered as perfectly fixed at the ordinary temperature of the atmosphere, have been lately discovered to undergo a slow and almost imperceptible evaporation under such circumstances; and the discovery has led to a very satisfactory solution of several problems which were previously unintelligible. We shall adduce a striking exemplification of this truth, under the consideration of mercurial vapours.

The substances, included under the head of _Aërial poisons_, may be conveniently arranged in two orders, viz.

I. Those, whose particles exist mechanically suspended in the
atmosphere.

II. Those, which are presented to us in a _vaporous_ or _gaseous_
form.

Of the first division the various arts will furnish ample illustration, as for instance the occupations of the colour-maker, plasterer, cotton-spinner, dry-grinder,[498] stone-cutter, hatter, furrier, miller, &c. &c. In all of which a subtle matter is given off, which becoming mechanically suspended in the air, penetrates the structure of the pulmonary organs, and excites disease, and even death.[499] In illustration of the second division, we have the trades of water-gilders, acid manufacturers, night-men, bleachers, and various others, many of which have been already noticed under the medical and chemical consideration of nuisances, _vol._ I, _p._ 330.

In the present chapter we cannot attempt an enumeration of every substance which may act as an aërial poison; we shall confine our attention to the history of a few bodies which are calculated to afford general elucidation, and are likely to become objects of forensic interest.

MERCURIAL VAPOURS.

It is not the least interesting fact in the history of aërial poisons, that substances, which are found to be extremely slow in their action, or even quite inert, when administered in their solid or liquid state, exert a very rapid and energetic operation when they are presented to the human body in the attenuated form of vapour. This fact is well illustrated by the subtlety and activity of metallic mercury _in the state of vapour_; a substance which, according to the highest authorities, is quite inactive when introduced in its grosser form into the stomach. It is thus that the workmen employed in gilding, silvering looking-glasses, constructing barometers, &c. experience such dreadful effects; that such effects arise from the _metal_ in a state of vapour, and not, as some have supposed, from the _oxide_,[500] is a fact capable of demonstration, for the artists at Birmingham affix an apparatus in their chimneys as a system of economy, in order to collect the mercury, which is always found in its _metallic_ state.[501] From the late interesting experiments of _Mr. Faraday_,[502] it appears that _mercury_ rises in vapour at the ordinary temperature of the atmosphere; the knowledge of which fact will afford a very satisfactory explanation of several phenomena, which were previously unintelligible. _Dr. Hermbstaed_, in the memoir, above mentioned, “on the volatility of substances hitherto considered as fixed bodies,” relates the following curious fact with regard to the volatility of mercury. “At the Royal Manufactory of looking-glasses in Berlin, during a severe winter, the artificers who worked in a room, which had originally served for the process of _silvering_ the glasses, lighted a fire, and thus heated the apartment to between 86° and 96° _Fah._ In a few days the whole of them were, to their great surprise, affected by a strong salivation, as there was no trace of mercury in, or near the room. They consulted on the subject, and suspecting the real cause of the event, had the flooring of the room taken up, when about 40 lbs of the metal were found spread about in different parts, where it had fallen at various times during the operation of silvering, which had been executed in that room before.” With such facts before us, we shall no longer be unable to explain the effects which were produced on board his majesty’s ship _Triumph_, off Cadiz, in April 1809, by the bursting of leathern bags containing quicksilver, and the consequent dispersion of not less than three tons of the metal through the vessel. The interest excited by this case has been very great, and as the facts, involved in its history, are of high medical importance, we were induced to apply for permission to search the journals of the ship; and, through the kindness of _Dr. Burnett_, one of his majesty’s commissioners for victualling the navy, and the assistance of _Mr. Plowman_, who held the situation of surgeon to the _Triumph_, we have been enabled to obtain a correct and detailed history of the event. Previous to the circumstances we are about to describe, “the ship’s company had been tolerably healthy, when unfortunately a quantity of quicksilver was received on board, and diffused over the ship in consequence of the bursting of the leathern bags, in which it had been enclosed; when its effects were soon displayed upon the crew, by occasioning ptyalism, partial paralysis, affections of the bowels; so that in three weeks, no less than two hundred men were in a state of salivation. In consequence of which two transports were taken up as hospital ships, in which the slighter cases soon recovered; but as many fresh cases occurred daily, _Vice-Admiral Pickmore_ ordered a survey on the ship, and ship’s company, by the surgeons of the squadron, on the third of May, who reported the necessity of sending the ship into port, in order to clear her hold, change part of her provisions, into which the quicksilver had insinuated itself, and to purify her by means of ablution. This was accordingly done; but on stowing the hold afresh, every man so employed, as well as those engaged in the steward’s room, were attacked with ptyalism. Fresh cases happened daily, until they took their departure from Cadiz on the 13th of June; after which but few occurred, which was attributed by the surgeon to the coldness of the weather, the fresh breezes from the north-east, from the men having been kept constantly on deck, and not allowed to sleep on the orlop, and from not suffering those affected with ptyalism to lie on the lower deck; as well as from the constant attention paid in the ventilation of the ship by means of wind-sails. But, notwithstanding all these precautions, the ship had not been more than ten days at sea, when many of the men became worse, and it was found necessary to send twenty-four seamen on board the _Goshawk_, and two transports. On the arrival of the _Triumph_ in Cawsand Bay, on the 5th of July, there did not remain one case of ptyalism on their list. During this extraordinary visitation two men died from excessive ptyalism, one of them at Cadiz, having previously lost his teeth, and both cheeks at the time of his decease being in a state of sphacelation; the other, who died at Gibraltar, had lost the whole of his teeth, two-thirds of his tongue, and, at the time of his death, the lower lip was in a state of gangrene. To the interesting facts above related, _Mr. Plowman_ adds, that the interior of the ship was covered with a black powder, and that the copper bolts displayed the mercurial influence. The mercurial vapours proved fatal to the living stock on board, for nearly all the poultry, sheep, pigs, mice,[503] goats, cats, a dog, and even a canary bird, died from its influence.”

SULPHURETTED HYDROGEN GAS.

This gas is transparent and colourless; it has the property of inflammability, and when set on fire in the open air, burns with a bluish flame, and deposits a certain portion of sulphur. It is distinguished by an excessively fœtid smell, which has been aptly compared to that of rotten eggs. Its habitudes with other gases are interesting and important; by admixture with _chlorine_, it immediately undergoes decomposition, yielding its hydrogen, so as to form _hydro-chloric acid_ (_muriatic acid_), and consequently depositing its sulphur; with _ammoniacal gas_ it combines, and forms an _hydro-sulphuret of ammonia_; when mingled with _sulphurous acid gas_, the hydrogen of the former combines with the oxygen of the latter, and the sulphur of both is precipitated; when passed over ignited charcoal it is converted into carburetted hydrogen gas, and sulphur is deposited.

It is soluble in water, and the solution precipitates the different metals from their saline solutions, in the form of sulphurets; a property which at once distinguishes this gas from every other.

It has been long considered a very energetic poison, and it would, at the same time, appear to be a very insidious one; for sensibility is quickly destroyed by it, without any previous suffering. We are acquainted with a chemist who was suddenly deprived of sense, as he stood over a pneumatic trough, in which he was collecting the gas. It would seem to act upon the nervous system through the medium of the blood, in which it is extremely soluble. It constitutes the particular gas of privies, and is the immediate cause of those accidents which we have already described in a former part of this work, _vol._ 1, _page_ 100; since the printing of which we have heard of the death of four persons from emptying a privy at Brompton. This gas will be sometimes developed during the imperfect combustion of wet coals[504]; and it was probably owing to its presence, or to that of _carburetted hydrogen_, that the accident arose which is recorded by _Mr. Sutleffe_ in the _Medical Repository_. “He was hastily summoned to a neighbouring family at bed-time, where he found a female domestic labouring under a shrill, laborious inspiration; she had taken up from a good kitchen fire, a panful of live coals, from which a sudden suffocating blast seized her.”

CARBURETTED HYDROGEN GAS.

This gas is developed by several chemical processes. We have just stated that if, during the burning of charcoal, moisture be present, it is evolved in abundance. It appears to be particularly fatal to animal life. _Dr. Beddoes_ made many experiments upon the subject, from which it would seem to destroy life by rendering the muscular fibre inirritable without producing any previous excitement. In order to decide this question, _Sir Humphry Davy_[505] ventured to take three inspirations of the gas produced from the decomposition of water by charcoal. “The first inspiration produced a sort of numbness and loss of feeling in the chest, and about the pectoral muscles; after the second,” says he, “I lost all power of perceiving external things, and had no distinct sensation, except a terrible oppression on the chest; during the third expiration, this feeling disappeared; I seemed sinking into annihilation, and had just power enough to drop the mouth-piece from my unclosed lips. There is every reason to believe, that if I had taken four or five inspirations, instead of three, they would have destroyed life immediately, without producing any painful sensation.”

CHLORINE—_Oxy-muriatic Acid Gas_.

This gas, which is now considered as an elementary body, has received from _Sir Humphry Davy_ the name of _chlorine_, from the green colour which characterises it. Its odour is so penetrating and insupportable that it is impossible to respire it, even when considerably diluted with atmospheric air, and yet it will support combustion. It discharges vegetable colours, whence it forms the basis of various bleaching preparations. According to the experiments[506] of _M. Nysten_, this gas is not absorbed when respired pure, but appears to act only by irritating the bronchiæ locally; and so energetic is its action, that the animal dies before there is sufficient time for asphyxia to take place from the circulation of black blood. When it is respired in a dilute form, it produces a severe cough, and, according to _Fourcroy_, it occasions a phlegmonic inflammation of the bronchial membranes. The death of the ingenious and indefatigable _Pelletier_ was occasioned by his accidentally inhaling a proportion of this gas; a consumption was the consequence, which in a short time proved fatal. In the _London Medical and Physical Journal for November, 1821_, a case of a person is recorded who was poisoned by bleaching liquor.

SULPHUROUS ACID GAS.

The gas is generated by the combustion of sulphur. It is colourless; has a pungent smell, resembling that of burning sulphur, and is very soluble in water. It would appear to destroy life by a peculiar action on the blood.

OF HOMICIDE BY MISADVENTURE OR ACCIDENT.