Carboneum Hydrogenisatum

Carboneum hydrogenisatum. Carburetted hydrogen, Ethene, Olefiant gas, C,H4. This gas is sparingly soluble in water, but considerably soluble in alcohol.

Authorities.^ 1, Sir H. Davy, from Paris's Life of Davy (Lond. Med. Gaz., 7, 563), inhaled the pure gas from a bag; 2, Sedillot, Gaz. de Strast., 1845 (S. J. Suppl., vol. 4), poisoning by illuminating gas; 3, Sitz, Deutsch. Kl., 1852 (S. J., 76, p. 187), ibid.; 4, Gaertner, Wurt. Corr. Bl., 1853 (S. J., 79, p. 288), ibid.; 5, Cless, Wurt. Corr. BL, 1854 (S. J., 86, p. 34), ibid.; 6, Jousset, L'Union, 1857 (S. J., 95, p. 76), suffocated by coal damp; 7, Otho, Gaz. Sara, 1858 (S. J., 98, 171), poisoning by illuminating gas; 8, Leopold, V. f. Ger. Med., 1858 (S. J., 100, 293), ibid. ; 9, Mayer, Om. Schr. f. Geburt, 1858 (S. J., 104, 189), poisoning of two pregnant women by illuminating gas; 10, Schumacher, Hence Zeit., 1862 (S. J., 113, p. 292), poisoning by illuminating gas; 11, Sieveking, Lancet, 1869, ibid.; 12, Wallichs, Deutsche Khu., 1869 (S. J., 151, 273), ibid.; 13, De Beaumont, Lancet, 1873, poisoning by coal gas ; 14, William Taylor, M.D., Monograph on poisoning by coal gas, Edinb., 1874; 15, Tourdes (six cases, five fatal) from Taylor's work ; 16, Malaga, cases from Taylor's work.

Mind

Emotional. An extraordinary sensation of contentment, so that life seems exalted ; all his thoughts appear in a moment as if seen in an inner mirror

She occasionally gave loud cries

Only replied by monosyllables

Intellectual. Answers questions slowly but correctly

Some confusion of mind

Ideas confused for forty-eight hours

Intellectual faculties a blank

Complete loss of sensibility

Insensibility

Lost all power of perceiving external things, and had no distinct sensation except that of a terrible oppression on the chest

Loss of consciousness

Complete loss of consciousness

Consciousness completely lost

Completely unconscious

Fell unconscious to the ground

Suddenly fell down unconscious

Fell heavily on the floor, yet the shock of the concussion did not rouse her to consciousness ; but when the room was broken into, she heard the first words that were pronounced, and recognized one of the doctors who came to her help

Lying on back, unconscious, mouth widely open, and breathing audible, with a subdued stertor

Stupefaction

Coma

Deep coma

Deeply comatose

-Entirely comatose

Head

Confusion and Vertigo. Confusion of the head continues a long time

Vertigo 8 9 10.

After making a few steps into the open air, his head became giddy, his knees trembled, and he had just sufficient power to throw himself on the grass

Slight giddiness

Extreme giddiness

The giddiness returned with such violence as to oblige him to lie on the bed ; it was accompanied with nausea, loss of memory, and deficient sensation (after two hours and a half)

General Head. Heav ness of the head

Head heavy and exceedingly painful (second day)

Pain in head

Pain and pressure in the head,io.

Headache

Great headache

Severe pressure in the brain

Forehead. Frontal headache

Excruciating pain in forehead and between eyes (after four hours)

Eyes p. 607

Eyes sunken

Eyes distorted

Lids. Eyes half closed

Conjunctiva. Conjunctiva red

Conjunctiva; slightly injected

Ball. The eyeballs oscillated from side to side, with a lateral, or perhaps obliquely lateral motion ; this rolling was as nearly as possible synchronous with the breathing ; it was continuous and simultaneous, both eyes moving in the same direction at the same time. It was uninfluenced by the presence or absence of light, and was unvarying in its regularity, whether the eyelids were open or closed. No individual symptom was more remarkable than the steady and extreme oscillation of the eyeballs. These traversed laterally the extreme area of motion, as if the patient were anxiously looking as far as he could to the right, then as far as he could to the left ; and neither light nor darkness, irritation nor repose, nor the internal conditions which governed the varying sensibility of the pupils, seemed in any way to modify the constancy of this motion, or relieve the monotony of its rhythm. Even when once or twice we thought that, by means of the active stimuli employed, we awakened a slight response, it only took the character of a groan, together with a momentary half-knowing look. The eyeballs never rested

Pupil, Pupils dilated, insensible to light

Pupils widely dilated, insensible

Pupils contracted

Pupils contracted, insensible

Pupils insensible and partially dilated

Vision. Dark bodies moving before the eyes (second day)

Ears p. 607

Roaring in the ears (second day)

Face p. 607

Staring look

Had quite the expression of being in a profound slumber, the mouth being relaxed, hanging down, and the saliva overflowing it

Face soiled with blackish purulent matter, which was spurted about him

Face scarlet

Face red, turgid

Face bluish

Face cyanotic

Pale face,5 6 9 15.

Face pale, sunken, with blue eyelids and lips

Face, neck, and upper part of forehead congested and livid, the purple of the forehead forming a broad band, which deepened over the eyebrows, and shaded off towards the scalp, which was natural in color

Face drawn, wrinkled

Face distorted in trismus

Features distorted, and mouth covered with foam

Lips. Lips blue

Cheeks. Cheeks puffy

The teeth being kept apart by a wooden gag in one side of the mouth, the opposite cheek, on the free side of the mouth, was flaccid, and flapped loosely with every breath

First complaint was of pain in her cheek and the right side of head

Chin. Jaws tightly clenched

Jaws firmly closed, the one against the other; deglutition impossible

Teeth firmly clenched

When the current of air reached the sleeper, his teeth became firmly clenched, and his lips tightly closed over them. The breathing was then less full than formerly, and immediate suffocation seemed inevitable

On removing some tenacious mucus from the depending side of the mouth, his teeth snapped my finger, and remained closed tor about a minute. They afterwards relaxed and opened

Trismus

Slight degree of trismus, frequently interrupted by yawning

A high grade of trismus

A very great degree of trismus

The trismus increases; clonic cramps set in; repeated every four or five minutes

Mouth p. 607

Foam from the mouth

Bloody froth from the froth collected at the mouth

Throat p. 608

Every time the feather was introduced in tickling the fauces, it came away loaded with glairy, pinkish, sero-sanguineous discharge, the source of which seemed almost inexhaustible

Stomach p. 608

Nausea and Vomiting. Nausea

Nausea for everything

Inclination to vomit

Vomiting,5 8 10.

Vomited once

Violently sick

Stomach. Digestion is impaired

Violent cramps in the stomach

Stool p. 608

Involuntary passage of stool and urine

Thin rice-water stools, for some time after the attack

Stool frequent, consisting of thin faeces, mixed with dark blood and mucus,4.f

Respiratory Organs p. 608

Voice. Voice very feeble and indistinct

Coff/h. Slight cough, which did not last long

Violent paroxysms of cough

Respiration. Mucous rales at bases of lungs

Stertorous breathing

Breath smelling strongly of gas,1B.

Breath strongly impregnated with gas

Respiration accelerated

Respiration rapid, rattling

Breathing quick, and interrupted by profound inspirations and sighs

Respiration frequent, superficial

Respirations 48 (second day)

Respirations 30-36,16.

Respirations 28 (seven hours after being found)

Respiration 16-18 per minute (two hours after being found)

Respiration irregular, stertorous, intermitting

Respiration short, stertorous, slow

Breathing feeble and irregular

Respiration very weak, at long intervals

Breathing labored, fluctuating, interrupted

Difficult respiration

Dyspnoea

Sensation of suffocation

Threatened suffocation

After bleeding, the breathing appeared easier, the patient made a movement with the head, and executed a profound inspiration, which he followed by a noisy inspiration ; soon the breathing became embarrassed ; mucous rales were heard

Chest p. 608

Congestion of the lungs

Sounds of the heart scarcely audible on account of mucous rales in the chest

Sort of numbness and loss of feeling in chest and about pectoral muscles

Oppression of the chest

Transient pains in chest and extremities

Very violent tearing pains in the thorax

Heart and Pulse p. 608

Heart's Action. Beating of the heart scarcely noticed

Raise. Pulse strong, rapid, and regular

Pulse much quicker and more feeble

Pulse threadlike, and beating with excessive quickness

Pulse small, rapid

Pulse 96 (seven hours after being found)

Pulse 100

Pulse 112, small and weak (second day)

Pulse 120, and very feeble,1 ie.

Pulse small, 120,15.

Pulse small and weak, 95,3.

Pulse 78, soft (six hours after being found)

Pulse 72- 75, less regular, intermissions occasionally as often as 1 in 4 (four hours after being found)

Pulse steady, but feeble (two hours after being found)

Pulse and respiration extremely weak

Pulse scarcely perceptible

Pulse 60, scarcely perceptible

Pulse almost imperceptible

Pulse imperceptible

Neck and Back p. 608

Violent spasms of the extensors of the back

Extremities in General p. 608

Extremities flexed

Extremities relaxed

All the members in a state of resolution, as if paralyzed

Loss of motion of the limbs

Spasmodic stretching and trembling of the limbs

Weariness of the limbs

Limbs felt paralyzed ; they staggered (two cases)

Superior Extremities p. 609

Arms flexed on elbow-joints

The arms are flexed on elbows ; can only be stretched out by force

Arms semiflexed in front of the body; hands resting on abdomen

Trembling of the hands

Fingers constantly flexed

Generalities p. 609

Objective. Whole appearance betokened speedy dissolution, reminding one very much of the appearances presented when a patient is dying from the effects of an overdose of chloroform

The symptoms throughout bore a strong resemblance to those of apoplexy, and even the copious perspirations had a like fatal import

One very marked characteristic was the rapidly fluctuating nature of the conditions which presented themselves. These were alternately encouraging and discouraging, the system at one time striving vigorously to work off the poisonous load, and anon sinking exhausted with the effort. Thus the periods of hopeful tranquillity, when the pulse was steady and the breathing regular, were always followed by intervals of shorter duration when all these functions were deranged

Remained immovable, lying on her back

Remained immovable, lying on her back ; at 4 oclock the immobility was less complete, but she seized objects with the left hand ; could not move the right hand nor leg

Lying as if dead, cold and pale ; as soon as the window was opened, violent convulsions set in

On venesection, the blood, of a dark-red color, dribbled at first, but at length jetted freely

Trembling

Occasional but slight convulsive indications, which became more frequent and perceptible, affecting the trunk aud limbs only, not the head or face

Weakness

Excessive weakness

Considerably weakened, and strength only came back slowly

Movements weak and incomplete

General exhaustion continues several days

At last she was not able to rise on account of prostration and weakness

Loss of muscular power

Momentary loss of voluntary power

During night, became agitated and feverish, tormented with thirst and with painful dreams

Anaesthesia

Skin insensible

Skin completely insensible

Subjective. Seemed sinking into annihilation

Skin p. 609

Skin white, veins seem dark-colored

Skin livid

Painful tingling sensation in right leg

Sleep and Dreams p. 609

Fell asleep, and from that moment lost all consciousness for forty hours ; only remembered a sensation as of a painful dream

Sleep prolonged and very deep, interrupted by cramps in the jaws and in the toes

Fever p. 609

Chilliness. Cold skin

Body cold and feebly rigid

Skin icy cold

Skin generally cold, excepting the head

Chilliness

Shaking chill

Shaking with chill

Violent attacks of chill

Limbs cold

Extremities cold

Extremities icy cold

Sweat. Sweating copiously ; sweat smells of gas

Skin covered with profuse clammy sweat

Great drops of sweat over the whole body, especially on the head

Footnotes

† To the proving of Sir Humphrey Davy are abided some selected cases of poisoning by illuminating y as ; this latter gas is of complex and somewhat variable composition, containing marsh gas, olefiant gas, hydrogen, carbonous oxide, nitrogen, vapors of volatile hydrocarbons, and vapor of carbonic sulphide; it thus occupies a position between carbonous oxide and carbonic sulphide; the cases here collected possess sufficient interest to justify their insertion, though obtained from such a variable source.

† This character of the evacuations is doubtless dependent upon the extensive ecchymosis of the intestinal canal.