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§ 719. Dose.—The smallest dose of arsenic known to have proved fatal to a human being is ·16 grm. (2¹⁄₂ grains). Farriers and grooms are in the habit of giving as much as l·3 grm. (20 grains) a day to a horse, so that the poisonous dose for this animal must be very large.

The maximum dose for the horned cattle appears to be from ·32 to ·38 grm. (5 to 6 grains); that for a dog is 16 mgrms. (¹⁄₄ grain), and even this may, in the smaller kinds, cause illness.

The following may be considered as dangerous doses of arsenic:—·13 grm. (2 grains) for an adult; 1·9 grm. (30 grains) for a horse; ·64 grm. (10 grains) for a cow; and 32 to 64 mgrms. (¹⁄₂ to 1 grain) for a dog.

§ 720. Effects of Arsenious Acid on Plants.—If the root or stem of a plant is immersed in a solution of arsenious acid, the hue of the leaves soon alters in appearance, the green colour becomes of a whitish or brownish hue, and the plant withers; the effect being very similar to that produced by hot water. The toxic action may be traced from below upwards, and analysis will detect minute quantities of arsenic in all portions of the plant.

It has, however, been shown by Gorup-Besanez,[716] that if arsenious acid be mixed with earth, and plants grown in such earth, they only take up infinitesimal quantities of arsenic. Hence, in cases of cattle poisoning, any defence based upon the alleged presence of arsenic in the pasture will be more ingenious than just.

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The influence of arsenical fumes as evolved from manufactories upon shrubs and trees is in general insignificant. Pines and firs, five to six years old, have been known to suffer from a disease in which there is a shedding of the leaves, the more tender herbage being at the same time affected. Whatever dangers the practice of steeping corn intended for seed in a solution of arsenious acid, as a preventive of “smut,” may possess, it does not appear to influence deleteriously the growth of the future plant.

Superphosphate of manure is frequently rich in arsenic. Dr. Edmund Davy asserts that plants to which such manure is applied take up arsenic in their tissues, and M. Andonard has made a similar statement. Tuson[717] has also undertaken some experiments, which confirm Andonard and Davy’s researches. The bearing of this with relation to the detection of arsenic in the stomachs of the herbivora needs no comment.

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§ 721. Effects on Animal Life—Animalcules.—All infusoria and forms of animalcule-life hitherto observed perish rapidly if a minute quantity of arsenious acid is dissolved in the water in which they exist.

Insects.—The common arsenical fly-papers afford numerous opportunities for observing the action of arsenic on ordinary flies; within a few minutes (five to ten after taking the poison into their digestive organs) they fall, apparently from paralysis of the wings, and die. Spiders and all insects into which the poison has been introduced exhibit a similar sudden death. It is said that in the neighbourhood of arsenical manufactories there is much destruction among bees and other forms of insect life.

Annelids.—If arsenious acid is applied to the external surface of worms or leeches, the part which it touches perishes first, and life is extinguished successively in the others. If a wound is made first, and the arsenious acid then applied to it, the effects are only intensified and hastened. There is always noticed an augmentation of the excretions; the vermicular movements are at first made more lively, they then become languid, and death is very gradual.

Birds.—The symptoms with birds are somewhat different, and vary according to the form in which the poison is administered, viz., whether as a vapour or in solution. In several experiments made by Eulenberg on pigeons, the birds were secured under glass shades, and exposed to the vapour of metallic arsenic vaporised by heat. It is scarcely necessary to remark that in operating in this way, the poisoning was not by metallic arsenic vapour, but by that of arsenious acid. One of these experiments may be cited:—A pigeon was made to breathe an atmosphere charged with vapour from the volatilisation of metallic arsenic. The bird was immediately restless; in thirty minutes it vomited repeatedly, and the nasal apertures were noticed to be moist; after a little while, the bird, still breathing the arsenious acid atmosphere, was much distressed, shook its head repeatedly, and yawned; in fifty minutes the respiration was laboured, and in fifty-nine minutes there was much vomiting. On removing the bird, after it had been exposed an hour to the vapour (·16 grm. of metallic arsenic having been evaporated in all), it rapidly recovered.

Six days after, the pigeon was again exposed in the same way to the vapour, but this time ·56 grm. of metallic arsenic was volatilised. In fifteen minutes there was retching, followed by vomiting. On taking it out after an hour it remained very quiet, ate nothing, and often puffed itself out; the breathing was normal, movements free, but it had unusual thirst. On the second and third day the excretions were frequent and fluid; the cardiac pulsations were slowed, and the bird was disinclined to move. On the fourth day it continued in one place, puffing itself out; towards evening the respirations slowed, the beak gaping at every inspiration. On attempting flight, the wings fluttered and the bird fell on its head. After this it lay on its side, with slow, laboured respiration, the heart-beats scarcely to be felt, and death took place without convulsions, and very quietly. On examining the organs after death, the brain and spinal cord were very bloodless; there were ecchymoses in the lungs; but little else characteristic. The experiment quoted has a direct bearing upon the breathing of arsenical dust; as, for example, that which floats in the air of a room papered with an easily detached arsenical pigment. Other experiments on birds generally have shown that the symptoms produced by arsenious acid in solution, or in the solid form, in a dose insufficient to destroy life, are languor, loss of appetite, and the voidance of large quantities of liquid excreta like verdigris. With fatal doses, the bird remains quiet; there are fluid, sometimes bloody, excretions; spasmodic movements of the pharynx, anti-peristaltic contraction of the œsophagus, vomiting, general trembling of the body, thirst, erection of the feathers, and laboured respiration. The bird becomes very feeble, and the scene mostly closes with insensibility and convulsions.

Mammals, such as cats, dogs, &c., suffer from symptoms fairly identical with those observed in man; but the nervous symptoms (according to P. Hugo) do not predominate, while with rabbits and guinea-pigs, nervous symptoms are more marked and constant.[718] There are vomiting, purging, and often convulsions and paralysis before death. It has been noticed that the muscles after death are in a great state of contraction. The slow poisoning of a dog, according to Lolliot,[719] produced an erythematous eruption in the vicinity of the joints, ears, and other parts of the body; there were conjunctivitis, increased lachrymal secretion, and photophobia; the hair fell off.

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§ 722. Effects of Arsenious Acid on Man.—The symptoms produced by arsenious acid vary according to the form of the poison—whether solid, vaporous, or soluble—according to the condition of bodily health of the person taking it, and according to the manner in which it is introduced into the animal economy, while they are also in no small degree modified by individual peculiarities of organisation and by habit, as, for instance, in the arsenic-eaters.

Arsenic-Eaters.—In all European countries grooms and horse-dealers are acquainted with the fact that a little arsenic given daily in the corn improves the coat, increases, probably, the assimilation of the food, and renders the horse plump and fat. On the Continent grooms have been known to put a piece of arsenic, the size of a pea, in a little oatmeal, make it into a ball, tie it up in a linen rag, and attach it to the bit; the saliva dissolves, little by little, the poison, while both the gentle irritation and physiological action excite a certain amount of salivation, and the white foam at the mouth, and the champing of the horse, are thought vastly to improve the appearance. Shot, which contains a small quantity of arsenic, have been used for the same purpose, and from half a pound to a pound of small shot has been given to horses. When a horse has been for a long time dosed with arsenic, it seems necessary to continue the practice; if this is not done, the animal rapidly loses his condition. The explanation probably is, that the arsenic stimulates the various cells and glands of the intestinal tract to a superaction, the natural termination of which is an enfeeblement of their secreting power—this especially in the absence of the stimulus. Turning from equine involuntary arsenic-eaters, we find the strange custom of arsenic-eating voluntarily pursued by the races of lower Austria and Styria, especially by those dwelling on the mountains separating Styria from Hungary. In India also (and especially in the Punjaub) the same practice prevails, and here it is often taken as an aphrodisiac. The mountaineers imagine that it increases the respiratory power, nor is there wanting some evidence to show that this is actually the fact, and medicinal doses of arsenic have been in use for some time in cases of asthma and other diseases of the chest. The arsenic-eaters begin with a very small dose, which is continued for several weeks or months, until the system gets accustomed to it. The amount is then slightly augmented until relatively large doses are taken with impunity. In one case[720] it appears that a countryman, in good health, and sixty years of age, took daily 4 grains of arsenious acid, a habit which he had inherited from his father, and which he in turn bequeathed to his son.

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The existence of such a custom as arsenic-eating, in its literal sense, has more than once been doubted, but all who have travelled over Styria and other places where the habit prevails have convinced themselves that the facts have not been overstated. For example, Dr. Maclagan, in company with Dr. J. T. Rutter,[721] visited Styria in 1865, and having carefully weighed 5 or 6 grains of arsenic, saw these doses actually swallowed by two men. On collecting their urine, about two hours afterwards, abundant quantitative evidence of its presence was found; but in neither of the men were there the slightest symptoms of poisoning. It is obvious that the existence of such a habit might seriously complicate any inquiry into arsenical poisoning in these regions.

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§ 723. Manner of Introduction of Arsenic.—Arsenious acid exerts a poisonous action, whether it is taken by the stomach, or introduced into the system by any other channel whatever. The differences in the symptoms produced by external application (as through a wound), and by swallowing arsenious acid in substance or in solution, are not so marked as might be expected. It was probably Hunter who first distinctly recognised the fact that arsenic, even when introduced outwardly by application to an abraded surface, exerts a specific effect on the mucous membrane of the stomach. Brodie[722] states, “Mr. Home informed me that in an experiment made by Mr. Hunter himself, in which arsenic was applied to a wound in a dog, the animal died in twenty-four hours, and the stomach was found to be considerably inflamed. I repeated this experiment several times, taking the precaution of always applying a bandage to prevent the animal licking the wound. The result was that the inflammation of the stomach was commonly more violent and more immediate than when the poison was administered internally, and that it preceded in appearance the inflammation of the wound.”

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§ 724. Cases of Poisoning by the External Application of Arsenic.—A mass-poisoning by the external use of arsenical violet powder to infants occurred in England some years ago. Two deaths from this cause were established by coroners’ inquests.[723] Dr. Tidy found the violet powders used in the two cases to have the following composition:—

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	1. Per cent.	2. Per cent.
Arsenious Acid,	38·5	38·3
Starch (Potato),	54·8	55·4
Magnesia, &c.	6·7	6·3[724]

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Although the children were poisoned by absorption through the skin (unless it is allowed that some may have found its way in the form of arsenical dust into the throat, or, what is still more probable, that the infants may from time to time have seized the puff-ball and sucked it), the large quantity of ·421 grm. (6·5 grains) of arsenious acid was separated in the one case, and ·194 grm. (3 grains) in the other. In these cases arose the question which is sure to recur in legal inquiries into poisoning by absorption, viz., whether the poison lying on the surface and folds of the skin could not have been mixed during the post-mortem examination with the organs of the body? In these particular cases special care appears to have been taken, and the answer was satisfactory. It is not amiss, however, to call attention to the extreme precaution which such instances necessitate.

A woman, aged 51, had used a solution of arsenious acid to cure the itch; erysipelas of the body, however, followed, and she died after a long illness—one of the symptoms noted being trembling and paresis of the limbs.[725] In a case recorded by Desgranges,[726] a young chambermaid had applied to the unwounded scalp an arsenical ointment for the purpose of destroying vermin. She also suffered from a severe erysipelas, and the hair fell off. Quacks have frequently applied various arsenical pastes to ulcers and cancerous breasts with a fatal result. Instances of this abound; in one, a charlatan applied to a chronic ulcer of the leg an arsenical caustic; the patient showed symptoms of violent poisoning, and died on the sixth day.[727] In another, a lady suffering from some form of tumour of the breast, applied to an unqualified practitioner, who made from fifteen to twenty punctures with a lancet in the swelling, covered a piece of bread with an arsenical compound, and applied the bread thus prepared to the breast. Twelve hours afterwards symptoms of violent gastric irritation commenced; and vomiting and a sanguinolent diarrhœa followed, with death on the fifth day. Arsenic was found in all the organs.[728] Such examples might be multiplied. Arsenic has been in more than one case introduced criminally into the vagina with a fatal result.[729] Foderé, e.g., has recorded the case of a maid-servant who poisoned her mistress by intentionally administering several arsenical enemata.[730] Arsenious acid again has been respired in the form of vapour. One of the best instances of this is recorded by Taylor, and was the subject of a trial at the York Lent Assizes, 1864. The prisoner placed some burning pyrites at the doorway of a small room, in which there were eight children, including an infant in the cradle. The other children were removed speedily, but the infant was exposed to the vapour for an hour; it suffered from vomiting and diarrhœa, and died in twenty-four hours. There was slight inflammation of the stomach and intestines, the brain and lungs were congested, and the lining membrane of the trachea of a bright red colour. Arsenic was detected in the stomach, in the lungs, and spleen. The pyrites contained arsenic, and the fatal fumes were in effect composed of sulphurous and arsenious acids.

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§ 725. Arsenic in Wall-Papers.—It is now an accepted fact that arsenical colours on wall-papers cause illness. The symptoms are those of chronic poisoning, and present nothing distinctive from the effects produced from small doses of arsenic.

Kirschgasser[731] has described the symptoms in detail of twenty-six cases. That arsenic is actually present in patients suffering is often susceptible of proof, by examining skilfully and carefully a considerable volume (from one to two days’ collection) of the urine; in most of the cases thus examined arsenic has been discovered. This poisoning is produced, sometimes from the dust, at others from a volatile compound of arsenic, which has the following properties:—It is very volatile (perhaps a gas), it has a strong alliaceous odour, it is not entirely decomposed by a solution of silver nitrate, but is apparently decomposed by a boiling acid solution of potassic permanganate. The author suggests that it may be a compound of CO and As, but this is only a supposition. The existence of this volatile substance has been settled beyond all question by the experiments of Gosio,[732] confirmed by those of Charles Robert Sanger.[733]

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This substance appears to be readily enough produced by the action of the common moulds upon organic matter in the presence of small amounts of arsenic; the moulds vary in this property: Mucor, Mucedo, and Aspergillum glaucum react well; on the contrary, Penicillium glaucum, Mucor ramosus, and several others have either no action, or the action is but slight. One mould, the Penicillium brevicaule, has quite a special endowment in forming this peculiar arsenical compound; so much so, that Gosio has proposed its use as a reagent for arsenic, the garlic odour being perceived when the fungus is made to grow in solutions containing organic matter and only traces of arsenic.

§ 726. Forms of Arsenical Poisoning.—There are at least four distinct forms of arsenical poisoning, viz., an acute, subacute, a nervous, and a chronic form.

Acute Form.—All those cases in which the inflammatory symptoms are severe from the commencement, and in which the sufferer dies within twenty-four hours, may be called acute. The commencement of the symptoms in these cases is always within the hour; they have been known, indeed, to occur within eight minutes, but the most usual time is from twenty minutes to half an hour. There is an acrid feeling in the throat, with nausea; vomiting soon sets in, the ejected matters being at first composed of the substances eaten; later they may be bilious or even bloody, or composed of a whitish liquid. Diarrhœa follows and accompanies the vomiting, the motions are sometimes like those met with in ordinary diarrhœa and English cholera, and sometimes bloody. There is coldness of the extremities, with great feebleness, and the pulse is small and difficult to feel. The face, at first very pale, takes a bluish tint, the temperature falls still lower; the patient sinks in collapse, and death takes place in from five to twenty hours after the taking of the poison.

There can scarcely be said to be any clinical feature which distinguishes the above description from that of cholera; and supposing that cholera were epidemic, and no suspicious circumstance apparently present, there can be little doubt that a most experienced physician might mistake the cause of the malady, unless surrounding circumstances give some hint or clue to it. In the acute form diarrhœa may be absent, and the patient die, as it were, from “shock.” This was probably the cause of death in a case related by Casper,[734] that of Julius Bolle, poisoned by his wife. He took an unknown quantity of arsenic in solution at seven in the morning, and in about three-quarters of an hour afterwards suffered from pain and vomiting, and died in little more than three hours. There were no signs of inflammation in the stomach and intestines, but from the contents of the stomach were separated ·0132 grm. of arsenious acid, and ·00513 grm. from pieces of the liver, spleen, kidneys, lung, and blood. The dose actually taken is supposed not to have been less than ·388 grm. (6 grains).

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§ 727. The Subacute Form.—The subacute form is that which is most common; it exhibits some variety of phenomena, and individual cases vary much in the matter of time. The commencement of symptoms is, as in the most acute form, usually within the hour, but exceptions to this rule occur. In a case quoted by Taylor,[735] and recorded by M. Tonnelier, the poison did not cause any marked illness for eight hours; it was found, on post-mortem examination, that a cyst had been formed in the stomach which sheathed the arsenic over, and in some degree explained this delay. In another case, again, ten hours elapsed, and this is considered to be the maximum period yet observed. As with the acute form, there is a feeling of nausea, followed by vomiting, which continues although the stomach is quite empty; at first the ejected matter is a watery fluid, but later it may be streaked with blood. The tongue is thickly coated; there is great thirst, but the drinking of any liquid (even of ice-cold water) increases the vomiting. Nearly always pain is felt in the epigastrium, spreading all over the abdomen, and extending to the loin (which is tense and tender on pressure). Deglutition is often painful, and is accompanied by a sort of spasmodic constriction of the pharyngeal muscles. Diarrhœa follows the vomiting, and has the same characters as that previously described; occasionally, however, this feature is absent. In the case recorded by Martineau,[736] a man, aged 25, was seized at 10 A.M. suddenly with vomiting, which persisted all that day and the next, during which time the bowels were obstinately confined. On the second day a purgative was administered, whereupon diarrhœa set in, and continued until his death, which occurred in about two days and sixteen hours from the commencement of the symptoms. This case is also remarkable from the absence of pain or tenderness of the abdomen.

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In subacute cases the urine has several times been suppressed, and it is generally scanty and red in colour. Irregularity of the heart’s action and feebleness are tolerably constant phenomena. As the end approaches, there is excessive muscular weakness, the face is pale, the eyes hollow; the mucous membranes first, and then the skin, take a bluish tint; the skin itself is covered with perspiration, and there has been noticed a peculiar odour, which has been likened to arsine (arseniuretted hydrogen). The respiration is troubled, convulsive movements of the limbs have been observed, and cramps in the calves of the legs; death follows in a variable time—from twenty-four hours to several days. In certain cases there is a curious remission after violent symptoms, the patient rallies and seems to have recovered; but the appearance is deceptive, for the symptoms recur, and death follows. Recovery may also take place partially from the primary effects, and then inflammatory changes in the stomach, &c., set in, with fever and the ordinary symptoms which are common in all internal inflammation.

A single dose of arsenious acid may cause a prolonged and fatal illness, one of the best known examples being that of the suicide of the Duc de Praslin,[737] who took, with suicidal intent, on Wednesday, August 18, 1847, a dose of arsenious acid. The exact time of the act could not be ascertained, but the first effects appeared at 10 P.M.; there were the usual signs of vomiting, followed on the next day by diarrhœa, fainting, and extreme feebleness of the pulse. On Friday there was a remission of the symptoms, but great coldness of the limbs, intermittency and feebleness of the heart’s action, and depression. On Saturday there was slight fever, but no pain or tenderness in the abdomen, vomiting, or diarrhœa; on this day no urine was passed. On the Sunday he complained of a severe constriction of the throat, and deglutition was extremely painful; thirst was extreme, the tongue intensely red, as well as the mucous membrane of the mouth and pharynx, and the patient had a sensation of burning from the mouth to the anus. The abdomen was painful and distended, the heat of the skin was pronounced, the pulse frequent and irregular,—sometimes strong, at others feeble,—the bowels had to be relieved by injections, the urine was in very small quantity; during the night there was no sleep. The duke died at 4.35 A.M. on Tuesday the 24th, the sixth day; intelligence was retained to the last. As the end approached, the respiration became embarrassed, the body extremely cold, and the pulse very frequent.

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§ 728. In the nervous form the ordinary vomiting and purging are either entirely suppressed, or present in but feeble degree; and under this heading are classed the rare cases in which, in place of the ordinary symptoms, affections of the nervous system predominate. Narcotism, paresis, deepening into paralysis, delirium, and even acute mania, as well as epileptiform convulsions, have all been recorded. In short, the symptoms show so much variety, that an idea of the malady produced in this very rare form can only be obtained by studying the clinical history of cases which have presented this aspect. In a case recorded by Guilbert,[738] a man, thirty-five years of age, had swallowed a solution of arsenic, half of which was immediately rejected by vomiting. A little while afterwards his respiration became laborious; the eyes were bathed with tears, which were so acrid as to inflame the eyelids and the cheeks; the muscles of the face were from time to time convulsed; he perspired much, and the perspiration had a fœtid odour; there was some diarrhœa, the urine was suppressed, and from time to time he was delirious. Afterwards the convulsions became general, and the symptoms continued with more or less severity for five days. On the sixth a copious miliary eruption broke out, and the symptoms became less severe. The eruption during fifteen days every now and again reappeared, and at the end of that time the patient was convalescent, but weak, liable to ophthalmia, and had a universal trembling of the limbs.

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In one of Brodie’s[739] experiments on rabbits, 7 grains of arsenious acid were inserted in a wound in the back; the effect of which was to paralyse the hind legs. In other experiments on animals, paralysis of the hind legs has been frequently noticed, but paralysis certainly is rare in man; in the case, however, recorded by Barrier,[740] of the five men who took by mistake a solution of arsenious acid, one of them was found stretched on the ground with the inferior extremities paralysed.

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In a case of “mass” poisoning reported by Dr. Coqueret,[741] three persons ate by mistake an unknown quantity of arsenious acid—two of them only suffered slightly, but the third severely, vomiting occurring almost immediately, and continuing with frequency until the end of the fourth day. Two hours after swallowing the poison, the patient took the hydrated oxide of iron as an antidote. On the sixth day there was stupor and a semi-delirious state, with an eruption of a pustular character compared to that of the small-pox. These symptoms continued more or less until the fifteenth day, when they diminished, and ultimately the patient recovered. In a case related by Tardieu,[742] in which a person died on the eleventh day from the effects of the poison, towards the end, as a specially marked symptom, there was noted hyperæsthesia of the inferior extremities, so that the least touch was painful.

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§ 729. Absence of Symptoms.—In a few cases there have been a remarkable absence of symptoms, and this both in man and animals. Seven horses were fed with oats accidentally mixed with arseniate of soda. The first succumbed three hours after taking the poison, without having presented any symptom whatever; he fell suddenly, and in a short time expired.[743] It is related by Orfila,[744] that a woman, aged 27, expired in about twelve hours from a large dose of arsenious acid; there were the usual post-mortem appearances, but in life no sign of pain, no vomiting, and but little thirst.

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§ 730. Slow Poisoning.—Slow poisoning has been caused accidentally by arsenical wall-paper, in the manufacture of arsenical pigments, by the admixture of small quantities of arsenic with salt or other condiments, and repeated small doses have been used for criminally producing a fatal illness intended to simulate disease from natural causes. The illness produced by small intermittent doses may closely resemble in miniature, as it were, those produced by large amounts; but, on the other hand, they may be different and scarcely to be described otherwise than as a general condition of ill-health and malaise. In such cases there is loss of appetite, feebleness, and not unfrequently a slight yellowness of the skin. A fairly constant effect seen, when a solution of arsenious acid is given continuously for a long time, is an inflammation of the conjunctivæ, as well as of the nasal mucous membrane—the patient complains of “always having a cold.” This inflammatory action also affects the pharynx, and may extend to the air-passages, and even to the lung-tissue. At the same time there is often seen an exanthem, which has received a specific name—“eczema arsenicale.” Salivation is present, the gums are sore, at times lacerated. In chronic poisoning by arsenic, nervous symptoms are almost constant, and exhibit great variety; there may be numbness, or the opposite condition, hyperæsthesia, in the extremities. In certain cases fainting, paresis, paralysis, and sometimes convulsions occur; towards the end a sort of hectic fever supervenes, and the patient dies of exhaustion.

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