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Chromate of Zinc (ZnCrO₄) is used in calico-printing, and there is also in commerce a basic chromate known as zinc yellow. Zinc green, or Rinman’s green, is a beautiful innocuous colour, formed by igniting a mixture of dry zincic and cobaltous carbonates.

The use of zinc vessels in the preparation of foods may occasionally bring the metal under the notice of the analyst. When exposed to a moist atmosphere, zinc becomes covered with a thin film of oxide, perfectly insoluble in ordinary water; but, if the water should be charged with common salt, a considerable quantity may be dissolved. It may generally be laid down as a rule that the solvent power of water on zinc has a direct relation to the chlorides present, whilst carbonate of lime greatly diminishes this solubility.[949]

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Milk may become contaminated by zinc; for, it is a matter of common knowledge, that milk contained in zinc vessels does not readily turn sour. This may be explained by the zinc oxide combining with the lactic acid, and forming the sparingly soluble lactate of zinc 2(C₃H₅O₃)Zn + 3H₂O, thus withdrawing the lactic acid as fast as it is formed, preventing the coagulation of the casein. With regard to this important practical subject, MM. Payne and Chevallier made several experiments on the action of brandy, wine, vinegar, olive oil, soup, milk, &c., and proved that zinc is acted on by all these, and especially by alcoholic, acetic, and saline liquids. M. Schaufféle has repeated these experiments, and determined the amount of zinc dissolved in fifteen days by different liquids from a galvanised iron as well as a zinc vessel.

The amount found was as follows:—

	The liquid from the zinc vessel, grms. per litre.		The liquid from the galvanised iron vessel, grms. per litre.
Brandy,	0	·95	0	·70
Wine,	3	·95	4	·10
Orange-flower water,	0	·50	0	·75
Vinegar,	31	·75	60	·75
Fatty soup,	0	·46	1	·00
Weak soup,	0	·86	1	·76
Milk,	5	·13	7	·00
Salt water,	1	·75	0	·40
Seltzer water,	0	·35	0	·30
Distilled water,	traces.		traces.
Ordinary water,	traces.		traces.
Olive oil,	none.		none.

§ 862. Effects of Zinc, as shown by Experiments on Animals.—Harnack, in experiments with sodium-zinc oxide pyrophosphate, has shown that the essential action of zinc salts is to paralyse the muscles of the body and the heart, and, by thus affecting the circulation and respiration, to cause death; these main results have been fully confirmed by Blake, Letheby, and C. Ph. Falck. For rabbits the lethal dose is ·08 to ·09 grm. of zinc oxide, or about ·04 per kilogrm. The temperature during acute poisoning sinks notably—according to F. A. Falck’s researches on rabbits, from about 7·3° to 13·0°. Zinc is eliminated mainly by the urine, and has been recognised in that fluid four to five days after the last dose. It has also been separated in small quantity from the milk and the bile.

§ 863. Effects of Zinc Compounds on Man—(a) Zinc Oxide.—The poisonous action of zinc oxide is so weak that it is almost doubtful whether it should be considered a poison. Dr. Marcett has given a pound (453·6 grms.) during a month in divided doses without injury to a patient afflicted with epilepsy; and the workmen in zinc manufactories cover themselves from head to foot with the dust without very apparent bad effects. It is not, however, always innocuous, for Popoff has recorded it as the cause of headache, pain in the head, cramps in the calves of the legs, nausea, vomiting, and diarrhœa; and he also obtained zinc from the urine of those suffering in this manner.[950] Again, a pharmacy student[951] filled a laboratory with oxide of zinc vapour, and suffered from well-marked and even serious poisonous symptoms, consisting of pain in the head, vomiting, and a short fever. It must be remembered that, as the ordinary zinc of commerce is seldom free from arsenic, and some samples contain gallium, the presence of these metals may possibly have a part in the production of the symptoms described.

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§ 864. (b) Sulphate of Zinc.—Sulphate of zinc has been very frequently taken by accident or design, but death from it is rare. The infrequency of fatal result is due, not to any inactivity of the salt, but rather to its being almost always expelled by vomiting, which is so constant and regular an effect, that in doses of 1·3 grm. (20 grains), sulphate of zinc is often relied upon in poisoning from other substances to quickly expel the contents of the stomach. In a case reported by Dr. Gibb, an adult female swallowed 4·33 grms. (67 grains), but no vomiting occurred, and it had to be induced by other emetics; this case is unique. It is difficult to say what would be a fatal dose of zinc sulphate, but the serious symptoms caused by 28 grms. (1 oz.) in the case of a groom in the service of Dr. Mackenzie, leads to the view that, although not fatal in that particular instance, it might be in others. The man took it in mistake for Epsom salts: a few minutes after he was violently sick and purged, and was excessively prostrated, so that he had to be carried to his home; the following day he had cramps in the legs, and felt weak, but was otherwise well.

In a criminal case related by Tardieu and Roussin, a large dose of zinc sulphate, put into soup, caused the death of an adult woman of sixty years of age in about thirty hours.[952] The symptoms were violent purging and vomiting, leading to collapse. From half of the soup a quantity of zinc oxide, equal to 1·6 grm. of zinc sulphate, was separated. Zinc was also found in the stomach, liver, intestines, and spleen—(see also a case of criminal poisoning recorded by Chevallier).[953]

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§ 865. (c) Zinc Chloride.—Chloride of zinc is a powerful poison, which may kill by its primary or secondary effects; its local action as a caustic is mainly to be ascribed to its intense affinity for water, dehydrating any tissue with which it comes in contact. The common use of disinfecting fluids containing zinc chloride, such as Burnett’s fluid, leads to more accidents in England than in any other European country. Of twenty-six cases of poisoning by this agent, twenty-four occurred in England, and only two on the Continent. Death may follow the external use of zinc chloride. Some years ago, a quack at Barnstaple, Devon, applied zinc chloride to a cancerous breast; the woman died with all the general symptoms of poisoning by zinc, and that metal was found in the liver and other organs.

The symptoms observed in fatal cases of chloride of zinc poisoning are—immediate pain in the throat, and burning of the lips, tongue, &c. There is difficulty in swallowing, an increase in the secretion of saliva, vomiting of bloody matters, diarrhœa, collapse, coma, and death. In some cases life has been prolonged for days; but, on the other hand, death has been known to occur in a few hours. In those cases in which either recovery has taken place, or in which death is delayed, nervous symptoms rarely fail to make their appearance. In a case recorded by Dr. R. Hassall, 3 ounces of Burnett’s fluid were swallowed. The usual symptoms of intense gastro-intestinal irritation ensued, but there was no purging until the third day; after the lapse of a fortnight, a train of nervous symptoms set in, indicated by a complete perversion of taste and smell. In other cases, aphonia, tetanic affections of groups of muscles, with great muscular weakness and impairment of sight, have been noticed. Very large doses of zinc chloride have been recovered from, e.g., a man had taken a solution equivalent to about 13 grms. (200 grains) of the solid chloride. Vomiting came on immediately, and there was collapse, but he recovered in sixteen days. On the other hand, ·38 grm. (6 grains) has destroyed life after several weeks’ illness.

§ 866. Post-mortem Appearances.—In poisoning by sulphate of zinc, the appearances usually seen are inflammation, more or less intense, of the mucous membrane of the stomach and bowels. In the museums of the London hospitals, I could only find (1882) a single specimen preserved illustrating the effects of this poison. This preparation is in St. George’s Hospital Museum, and shows (ser. ix. 43 and 198) the stomach of a man who died from zinc sulphate, and whose case is reported in the Lancet, 1859. The mucous membrane is wrinkled all over like a piece of tripe; when recent it was vascular and indurated, but uniformly of a dirty grey colour; the lining membrane of the small intestine is very vascular, and in the duodenum and upper part of the jejunum the colour is similar to that of the stomach, but in a less marked degree; the stomach and intestines are contracted.

The pathological appearances after chloride of zinc vary according to the period at which death takes place. When it has occurred within a few hours, the lining membrane of the mouth and gullet shows a marked change in texture, being white and opaque, the stomach hard and leathery, or much corrugated or ulcerated. In cases in which life has been prolonged, contractions of the gullet and stomach may occur very similar to those caused by the mineral acids, and with a similar train of symptoms. In a case which occurred under Dr. Markham’s[954] observation, a person died ten weeks after taking the fatal dose, the first symptoms subsiding in a few days, and the secondary set of symptoms not commencing for three weeks. They then consisted mainly of vomiting, until the patient sank from exhaustion. The stomach was constricted at the pyloric end, so that it would scarcely admit a quill.

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In Guy’s Hospital there is a good preparation, 1799³⁵, from the case of S. R., aged 22; she took a tablespoonful of Burnett’s fluid, and died in about fourteen weeks. There were at first violent vomiting and purging, but she suffered little pain, and in a day or two recovered sufficiently to move about the house; but the vomiting after food continued, everything being ejected about five minutes after swallowing. Before death she suffered from pneumonia. The stomach is seen to be much contracted—5 inches in length; it is ulcerated both near the pylorus and near the gullet; at the latter part there is a pouch-like portion of the mucous membrane of the stomach adherent to the spleen, which communicates by a perforation with an abscess formed and bounded by the stomach, diaphragm, and spleen; it contained 3 ozs. of dirty-looking pus. At the pylorus, in the centre, there is a second perforation, but extravasation of the contents is prevented by the adherent omentum and transverse colon. The muscular coats are thickened.

§ 867. Detection of Zinc in Organic Liquids or Solids.—In cases where the poison has been expelled from the stomach by vomiting, the muscles and bones would appear to be the best tissues to examine chemically; for Matzkewitsch investigated very carefully a dog poisoned by 100 parts of zinc, subcutaneously injected in the form of acetate, and found it distributed over the several organs of the body in the following ratios:—Muscles 60·5, bones 24·41, stomach and intestines 4·63, skin 3·70, place of injection 2·19, liver 1·75, lungs and heart 1·68, kidneys, bladder, and urine 1·14.

The only certain method of detection is to produce the sulphide of zinc, best effected by saturating a neutral or feebly acid liquid with hydric sulphide. If an organic liquid, which can be easily filtered, is operated upon, it may be strongly acidulated with acetic acid, and at once treated with hydric sulphide. If, however, zinc is sought for as a part of a systematic examination (as will most likely be the case), the solution will have been treated with hydrochloric acid, and already tested for arsenic, antimony, lead, &c., and filtered from any precipitate. In such a case the hydrochloric acid must first be replaced by acetic, which is effected by adding a slight excess of sodic acetate; the right quantity of the latter is easily known, if the hydrochloric acid originally added was carefully measured, and its specific gravity ascertained; 3·72 of crystallised sodic acetate saturating one of HCl. Lastly, should the distillation process, given at p. 49, have been adopted, the contents of the retort will only require to be treated with water, filtered, and saturated with sulphuretted hydrogen. In any of the above cases, should a white, dirty white or lightish-coloured precipitate (which is not sulphur) be thrown down, zinc may be suspected; it will, however, be absolutely necessary to identify the sulphide, for there are many sources of error. The most satisfactory of all identifications is the production of Rinman’s green. The supposed sulphide is dissolved off the filter with hot nitric acid, a drop or more (according to the quantity of the original precipitate) of solution of cobalt nitrate added, the solution precipitated with carbonate of soda and boiled, to expel all carbonic anhydride; the precipitate is then collected on a filter, washed, dried, and ignited in a platinum dish. If zinc be present in so small a proportion as 1·100,000 part, the mass will be permanently green.

§ 868. Other methods of procedure are as follows:—The supposed zinc sulphide (after being well washed) is collected in a porcelain dish, and dissolved in a few drops of sulphuric acid, filtered, nitric acid added, evaporated to dryness, and heated to destroy all organic matter. When cool, the mass is treated with water acidulated by sulphuric acid, and again filtered. The solution may contain iron as well as zinc, and if the former (on testing a drop with ferrocyanide of potash) appears in any quantity, it must be separated by the addition of ammonia in excess to the ammoniacal filtrate; sodic carbonate is added in excess, the liquid well boiled, and the precipitate collected on a filter and washed. The carbonate of zinc thus obtained is converted into zinc oxide by ignition, and weighed. If oxide of zinc, it will be yellow when hot, white when cold: it will dissolve in acetic acid; give a white precipitate with sulphuretted hydrogen; and, finally, if heated on charcoal in the oxidising flame, and moistened with cobalt nitrate solution, a green colour will result. Zinc may also be separated from liquids by electrolysis. The simplest way is to place the fluid under examination in a platinum dish of sufficient size, acidify, and insert a piece of magnesium tape. The metallic film so obtained may be dissolved by hydrochloric acid, and the usual tests applied.

2. NICKEL—COBALT.

§ 869. The salts of nickel and cobalt have at present no toxicological importance, although, from the experiments of Anderson Stuart,[955] both may be classed as poisonous. The experiments of Gmelin had, prior to Stuart’s researches, shown that nickel sulphate introduced into the stomach acted as an irritant poison, and, if introduced into the blood, caused death by cardiac paralysis. Anderson Stuart, desiring to avoid all local irritant action, dissolved nickel carbonate in acid citrate of soda by the aid of a gentle heat; he then evaporated the solution, and obtained a glass which, if too alkaline, was neutralised by citric acid, until its reaction approximated to the feeble alkalinity of the blood; the cobalt salt was produced in the same way. The animals experimented on were frogs, fish, pigeons, rats, guinea-pigs, rabbits, cats, and dogs—in all 200. The lethal dose of nickelous oxide, when subcutaneously injected in the soluble compound described, was found to be as follows:—frogs, ·08 grm. per kilogram; pigeons, ·06; guinea-pigs, ·030; rats, ·025; cats, ·01; rabbits, ·009; and dogs, ·007. The cobaltous oxide was found to be much less active, requiring the above doses to be increased about two-thirds. In other respects, its physiological action seems to be very similar to that of nickelous oxide.

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§ 870. Symptoms—Frogs.—A large dose injected into the dorsal lymph sac of the frog causes the following symptoms:—The colour of the skin all over the body becomes darker and more uniform, and not infrequently a white froth is abundantly poured over the integument. In an interval of about twenty minutes the frog sits quietly, the eyes retracted and shut; if molested, it moves clumsily. When quiet, the fore limbs are weak, and the hind legs drawn up very peculiarly, the thighs being jammed up so against the body, that they come to lie on the dorsal aspect of the sides of the frog, and the legs are so much flexed that the feet lie on the animal’s back, quite internal to the plane of the thighs. Soon fibrillary twitchings are observed in the muscles of the abdominal wall, then feeble twitchings of the fingers, and muscles of the fore limbs generally; lastly, the toes are seen to twitch, and then the muscles of the hind limbs—this order is nearly always observed; now spasmodic gaping and incoördinate movements are seen, and the general aspect is not unlike the symptoms caused by picrotoxin. After this, tetanus sets in, and the symptoms then resemble those of strychnine; the next stage is stupefaction and voluntary motor paresis; the respiratory movements become feeble, and the paresis passes into paralysis. The heart beats more and more slowly and feebly, and death gradually and imperceptibly supervenes. The post-mortem appearances are well marked, i.e., rigor mortis, slight congestion of the alimentary tract, the heart with the auricle much dilated and filled with dark blood, the ventricle mostly small, pale, and semi-contracted. For some time after death, the nerve trunks and muscles react to the induction current.

Pigeons.—In experiments on pigeons the symptoms were those of dulness and stupor, jerkings of different sets of muscles, and then death quietly.

Guinea-pigs.—In guinea-pigs there were dulness and stupefaction, with some weakness of the hind limbs.

Rats.—The symptoms in rats were almost entirely nervous; they became drowsy and apathetic, and there was paralysis of the hind legs.

Rabbits.—In rabbits, also, the symptoms were mainly those caused by an affection of the nervous system. There was paralysis, which affected either the hind legs only, or all four limbs. The cervical muscles became so weak that the animal was unable to hold its head up. Diarrhœa occurred and persisted until death. If the dose is not large enough to kill rapidly, the reflex irritability is decidedly increased, so that the slightest excitation may cause the animal to cower and tremble all over. Now appear twitchings and contractions of single groups of muscles, and this excitement becomes general. The respirations also become slower and more difficult, and sometimes there is well-marked dilatation of the vessels of the ears and fundi oculi. Convulsions close the scene.

§ 871. Circulation.—The effect of the salt on the frog’s heart was also studied in detail. It seems that, under the influence of a soluble salt of nickel, the heart beats more and more slowly, it becomes smaller and paler, and does not contract evenly throughout the whole extent of the ventricle; but the rhythm of the ventricular and auricular contractions is never lost.

It is probable that there is a vaso-motor paralysis of the abdominal vessels; the blood-pressure falls, and the heart is not stimulated by the blood itself as in its normal state. In support of this view, it is found that, by either pressing on the abdomen or simply inverting the frog, the heart swells up, fills with blood, and for a time beats well.

Nervous System.—The toxic action is referable to the central nervous system, and not to that of peripheral motor nerve-endings or motor nerve-fibres. It is probable that both nickel and cobalt paralyse to some extent the cerebrum. The action on the nerve-centres is similar to that of platinum or barium, and quite different from that of iron.

§ 872. Action on Striped Muscle.—Neither nickel nor cobalt has any effect on striped muscle. In this they both differ from arsenic, antimony, mercury, lead, and iron—all of which, in large doses, diminish the work which healthy muscle is capable of performing.

§ 873. Separation of Nickel or Cobalt from the Organic Matters or Tissues.—It is very necessary, if any case of poisoning should occur by either or both of these metals, to destroy completely the organic matters by the process already detailed on p. 51. Both nickel and cobalt are thrown down, if in the form of acetate, from a neutral solution by sulphuretted hydrogen; but the precipitation does not take place in the presence of free mineral acid; hence, in the routine process of analysis, sulphuretted hydrogen is passed into the acid liquid, and any precipitate filtered off. The liquid is now made almost neutral by potassic carbonate, and then potassic acetate added, and a current of sulphuretted hydrogen passed through it. The sulphides of cobalt and nickel, if both are present, will be thrown down; under the same circumstances zinc, if present, would also be precipitated. Cobalt is separated from zinc by dissolving the mixed sulphides in nitric acid, precipitating the carbonates of zinc and cobalt by potassic carbonate, collecting the carbonates, and, after washing, igniting them gently in a bulb tube, in a current of dry hydrochloric acid; volatile zinc chloride is formed and distils over, leaving cobalt chloride.

§ 874. To estimate cobalt, sulphide of cobalt may be dissolved in nitric acid, and then precipitated by pure potash; the precipitate washed, dried, ignited, and weighed; 100 parts of cobaltous oxide (Co₃O₄) equals 73·44 of metallic cobalt. Cobalt is separated from nickel by a method essentially founded on one proposed by Liebig. The nitric acid solution of nickel and cobalt (which must be free from all other metals, save potassium or sodium) is nearly neutralised by potassic carbonate, and mixed with an excess of hydrocyanic acid, and then with pure caustic potash. The mixture is left exposed to the air in a shallow dish for some hours, a tripotassic cobalticyanide (K₃CoCy₆) and a nickelo-potassic cyanide (2KCy, NiCy₄) are in this way produced. If this solution is now boiled with a slight excess of mercuric nitrate, hydrated nickelous oxide is precipitated, but potassic cobalticyanide remains in solution, and may be filtered off. On carefully neutralising the alkaline filtrate with nitric acid, and adding a solution of mercurous nitrate, the cobalt may then be precipitated as a mercurous cobalticyanide, which may be collected, washed, dried, decomposed by ignition, and weighed as cobaltous oxide. After obtaining both nickel and cobalt oxides, or either of them, they may be easily identified by the blowpipe. The oxide of nickel gives, in the oxidising flame with borax, a yellowish-red glass, becoming paler as it cools; the addition of a potassium salt colours the bead blue. In the reducing flame the metal is reduced, and can be seen as little greyish particles disseminated through the bead. Cobalt gives an intense blue colour to a bead of borax in the oxidising flame.

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IV.—PRECIPITATED BY AMMONIUM SULPHIDE.
Iron—Chromium—Thallium—Aluminium—Uranium.

1. IRON.

§ 875. It was Orfila’s opinion that all the salts of iron were poisonous, if given in sufficient doses; but such salts as the carbonate, the phosphate, and a few others, possessing no local action, may be given in such very large doses, without causing disturbance to the health, that the statement must only be taken as applying to the more soluble iron compounds. The two preparations of iron which have any forensic importance are the perchloride and the sulphate.

§ 876. Ferric Chloride (Fe₂Cl₆ = 325).—Anhydrous ferric chloride will only be met with in the laboratory. As a product of passing dry chlorine over red-hot iron, it sublimes in brown scales, is very deliquescent, and hisses when thrown into water. There are two very definite hydrates—one with 6 atoms of water, forming large, red, deliquescent crystals; and another with 12 of water, less deliquescent, and crystallising in orange stellate groups.

The pharmaceutical preparations in common use are:—

Stronger Solution of Perchloride of Iron (Liquor Ferri Perchloridi Fortior).—An orange-brown liquid of specific gravity 1·42, and containing about 58 per cent. of ferric chloride.

Tincture of Perchloride of Iron (Tinctura Ferri Perchloridi), made by diluting 1 part of the strong solution with 1 volume of rectified spirit, and adding distilled water to measure 4.

Solution of Perchloride of Iron (Liquor Ferri Perchloridi).—Simply 5 volumes of the strong solution made up to 20 by the addition of water; hence, of the same strength as the tincture.

§ 877. Effects of Ferric Chloride on Animals.—A very elaborate series of researches on rabbits, dogs, and cats was undertaken a few years ago by MM. Bérenger-Féraud and Porte[956] to elucidate the general symptoms and effects produced by ferric chloride under varying conditions. First, a series of experiments showed that, when ferric chloride solution was enclosed in gelatine capsules and given with the food of the animal, it produced either no symptoms or but trifling inconvenience, even when the dose exceeded 1 grm. per kilogrm.; anhydrous ferric chloride and the ferric chloride solution were directly injected into the stomach, yet, when food was present, death did not occur, and the effects soon subsided. In animals which were fasting, quantities of the solution equal to ·5 grm. per kilogrm. and above caused death in from one hour to sixteen hours, the action being much accelerated by the addition of alcohol—as, for example, in the case of the tincture: the symptoms were mainly vomiting and diarrhœa, sometimes the vomiting was absent. In a few cases the posterior extremities were paralysed, and the pupils dilated: the urine was scanty or quite suppressed; death was preceded by convulsions.

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§ 878. Effects on Man.—Perchloride of iron in the form of tincture has been popularly used in England, from its supposed abortive property, and is sold under the name of “steel drops.” It has been frequently taken by mistake for other dark liquids; and there is at least one case on record in which it was proved to have been used for the purpose of murder. The latter case[957] is peculiarly interesting from its great rarity; it occurred in Martinique in 1874-1876, no less than four persons being poisoned at different dates. All four were presumed to have had immoral relations with a certain widow X——, and to have been poisoned by her son. In three of the four cases, viz., Char——, Duf——, and Lab——, the cause of death seems pretty clear; but the fourth, Ab——, a case of strong suspicion, was not sufficiently investigated. All three took the fatal dose in the evening, between eight and nine o’clock—Lab—— the 27th of December 1874, Duf—— the 22nd of February 1876, and Char—— on the 14th of May 1876. They had all passed the day in tippling, and they all had eaten nothing from mid-day, so that the stomach would, in none of the three, contain any solid matters. The chloride was given to them in a glass of “punch,” and there was strong evidence to show that the son of the widow X—— administered it. Char—— died after about thirteen hours’ illness, Duf—— and Lab—— after sixty-five hours’ illness; Ab—— lived from three to four days. With Char—— the symptoms were very pronounced in an hour, and consisted essentially of violent colicky pain in the abdomen and diarrhœa, but there was no vomiting; Duf—— had also great pain in the abdomen and suppression of the urine. Lab—— had most violent abdominal pains; he was constipated, and the urinary secretion was arrested; there was besides painful tenesmus. According to the experiments of Bérenger-Féraud and Porte,[958] the perchloride in the above cases was taken under conditions peculiarly favourable for the development of its toxic action, viz., on an empty stomach and mixed with alcohol.

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There have been several cases of recovery from large doses of the tincture, e.g., that of an old man, aged 72, who had swallowed 85 c.c. (3 ozs.) of the tincture; the tongue swelled, there were croupy respiration and feeble pulse, but he made a good recovery. In other cases,[959] 28·3 c.c. (an ounce) and more have caused vomiting and irritation of the urinary organs. The perchloride is not unfrequently used to arrest hæmorrhage as a topical application to the uterine cavity—a practice not free from danger, for it has before now induced violent inflammation and death from peritonitis.

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§ 879. Elimination of Iron Chloride.—Most of the iron is excreted in the form of sulphide by the fæces, and colours them of a black hue; a smaller portion is excreted by the urine.

§ 880. Post-mortem Appearances.—In the experiments on animals already referred to, the general changes noted were dryness, pallor, and parchment-like appearance of the cavity of the mouth, the mucous membrane being blackened by the contact of the liquid. The gullet was pale and dry, not unfrequently covered with a blackish layer. The mucous membrane of the stomach was generally healthy throughout; but, if the dose was large and very concentrated, there might be one or more hyperæmic spots; otherwise, this did not occur. The internal surface of the intestines, similarly, showed no inflammation, but was covered with brownish coating which darkened on exposure to the air. The liver, in all the experiments, was large and gorged with black and fluid blood; there were ecchymoses in the lungs and venous congestion. The kidneys were usually hyperæmic, and contained little hæmorrhages. There was also general encephalic engorgement, and in one experiment intense congestion of the meninges was observed. Few opportunities have presented themselves for pathological observations relative to the effects produced by ferric chloride on man. In a case related by Christison, in which a man swallowed 42·4 c.c. (1¹⁄₂ oz.) of the tincture, and died in five weeks, there was found thickening and inflammation of the pyloric end of the stomach.

The case of Char——, already alluded to, is that in which the most complete details of the autopsy are recorded, and they coincide very fairly with those observed in animals; the tongue was covered with a greenish fur, bordered at the edges with a black substance, described as being like “mud”; the lining membrane of the gullet was pale, but also covered with this dark “mud.” The stomach contained a greenish-black liquid; the liver was large and congested; the kidneys were swollen, congested, and ecchymosed; the cerebral membranes were gorged with blood, and the whole brain hyperæmic.

§ 881. Ferrous Sulphate, Copperas, or Green Vitriol, FeSO₄7H₂O = 152 + 126; specific gravity, anhydrous, 3·138; crystals, 1·857; composition in 100 parts, FeO, 25·92; SO₃, 28·77; H₂O, 45·32.—This salt is in beautiful, transparent, bluish-green, rhomboidal prisms. The crystals have an astringent, styptic taste, are insoluble in alcohol, but dissolve in about 1·5 times their weight of water; the commercial article nearly always responds to the tests, both for ferrous and ferric salts, containing a little persalt. The medicinal dose of this salt is usually given as from ·0648 to ·324 grm. (1 to 5 grains), but it has been prescribed in cases requiring it in gramme (15·4 grains) doses without injury. Sulphate of iron has many technical applications; is employed by all shoemakers, and is in common use as a disinfectant. The salt has been employed for criminal purposes in France, and in this country it is a popular abortive. In recorded cases, the symptoms, as well as the pathological appearances, have a striking resemblance to those produced by the chloride. There are usually colic, vomiting, and purging; but in one case (reported by Chevallier), in which a man gave a large dose of sulphate of iron to his wife, there was neither vomiting nor colic; the woman lost her appetite, but slowly recovered. Probably the action of ferrous sulphate, like that of the chloride, is profoundly modified by the presence or absence of food in the stomach. Anything like 28·3 grms. (an ounce) of sulphate of iron must be considered a dangerous dose, for, though recovery has taken place from this quantity, the symptoms have been of a violent kind.

§ 882. Search for Iron Salts in the Contents of the Stomach, &c.—Iron, being a natural component of the body, care must be taken not to confound the iron of the blood or tissues with the “iron” of a soluble salt. Orfila attempted to distinguish between the two kinds of iron by treating the contents of the stomach, the intestines, and even the tissues, with cold acetic acid, and allowing them to digest in it for many hours before filtering and testing for iron in the filtrate, and this is generally the process which has been adopted. The acid filtrate is first treated with sulphuretted hydrogen, which gives no precipitate with iron, and then with sulphide of ammonium, which precipitates iron black. The iron sulphide may be dissolved by a little hydrochloric acid and a drop of nitric acid, and farther identified by its forming Prussian blue when tested by ferrocyanide of potash, or by the bulky precipitate of oxide, when the acid liquid is alkalised by ammonia. In the case of Duf——, the experts attempted to prove the existence of foreign iron in the liver by taking 100 grms. of Duf——’s liver and 100 grms. of the liver of a non-poisoned person, and destroying each by nitro-muriatic acid, and estimating in each acid solution the ferric oxide. Duf——’s liver yielded in 100 parts ·08 mgrm. of ferric oxide, the normal liver ·022—nearly three times less than Duf——’s.

To obtain iron from the urine, the fluid must be evaporated down to a syrup in a platinum dish, a little nitric acid added, heated, and finally completely carbonised. The residue is dissolved in hydrochloric acid. Normal urine always contains an unweighable trace of iron; and, therefore, any quantity, such as a mgrm. of ferric oxide, obtained by careful precipitation of the hydrochloric acid solution out of 200 to 300 c.c. of urine, would be good evidence that a soluble salt of iron had been taken. The hydrochloric acid solution is first precipitated by ammonia and ammonic sulphide. The precipitate thus obtained will not be pure iron sulphide, but mixed with the earth phosphates. It should be redissolved in HCl, precipitated by sodic carbonate, then acidified by acetic acid and sodic acetate added, and the solution well boiled; the iron will then be precipitated for the most part as oxide mixed with a little phosphate of iron.

Since, as before mentioned, a great portion of the iron swallowed as a soluble salt is converted into insoluble compounds and excreted by the fæces, it is, in any case where poisoning by iron is suspected, of more importance to examine chemically the fæces and the whole length of the alimentary canal, than even the contents of the stomach. In particular, any black material lying on the mucous membrane may be sulphide of iron mixed with mucus, &c., and should be detached, dissolved in a little hydrochloric acid, and the usual tests applied.

In the criminal cases alluded to, there were iron stains on certain linen garments which acquired an importance, for, on dissolving by the aid of nitric acid, they gave the reactions of chlorine and iron. Any stains found should be cut out, steeped in water, and boiled. If no iron is dissolved the stain should then be treated with dilute nitric acid, and the liquid tested with ferrocyanide of potash, &c. It need scarcely be observed that iron-mould is so common on shirts and any fabric capable of being washed, that great care must be exercised in drawing conclusions from insoluble deposits of the oxide.

2. CHROMIUM.

§ 883. The only salts of chromium of toxicological importance are the neutral chromate of potash, the bichromate of potash, and the chromate of lead.

Neutral Chromate of Potash, CrO₃K₂O = 194·7, containing 56·7 per cent. of its weight of chromic anhydride, CrO₃.—This salt is in the form of citron-yellow rhombic crystals, easily soluble in water, but insoluble in alcohol. Its aqueous solution is precipitated yellow by lead acetate or basic acetate; the precipitate being insoluble in acetic acid. If chromate of potash in solution is tested with silver nitrate, the red chromate of silver is thrown down; the precipitate is with difficulty soluble in dilute nitric acid.

§ 884. Potassic Bichromate, CrO₃K₂O = 295·2, containing 68·07 per cent. of its weight of chromic anhydride, CrO₃.—This salt is in beautiful large, red, transparent, four-sided tables; it is anhydrous and fuses below redness. At a high temperature it is decomposed into green oxide of chromium and yellow chromate of potash. It is insoluble in alcohol, but readily soluble in water. The solution gives the same precipitates with silver, lead, and barium as the neutral chromate. On digesting a solution of the bichromate with sulphuric acid and alcohol, the solution becomes green from the formation of chromic oxide.

§ 885. Neutral Lead Chromate, PbCrO₄ = 323·5, composition in 100 parts, PbO, 68·94, CrO₃, 31·06.—This is technically known as “Chrome Yellow,” and is obtained as a yellow precipitate whenever a solution of plumbic acetate is added, either to the solutions of potassic chromate or bichromate; by adding chrome yellow to fused potassic nitrate, “chrome red” is formed; it has the composition CrO₃2PbO. Neutral lead chromate is insoluble in acids, but may be dissolved by potassic or sodic hydrates.

§ 886. Use in the Arts.—Potassic bichromate is extensively used in the arts—in dyeing, calico-printing, the manufacture of porcelain, and in photography; the neutral chromate has been employed to a small extent as a medicine, and is a common laboratory reagent; lead chromate is a valuable pigment.

§ 887. Effects of some of the Chromium Compounds on Animal Life.—In the chromates of potash there is a combination of two poisonous metals, so that it is not surprising that Gmelin found the chloride of chromium, CrCl₃, less active than the neutral chromate of potash; 1·9 grm. of the last, administered to a rabbit by the stomach, caused death within two hours, while 3 grms. of chromous chloride had no action. Subcutaneous doses of ·2 to ·4 grm. of neutral chromate (according to the experiments of E. Gergens[960] and Carl Posner[961]) act with great intensity on rabbits. Immediately after the injection the animals are restless, and show marked dyspnœa; death often takes place within a few hours.

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