Zincum Muriaticum

Zinc chloride, ZnCl2.

Preparation, Solutions in water or alcohol.

Authorities. (1 and 2 Franz, Archiv. f. Horn., 6, Part 2) ; 1, Hancke, Rust’s Mag., 22, p. 75, effects of internal use of a solution of 1 gr. of Zinc with 2 drachms Spirit muriate ether, 5 drops every four hours; 2, same, external application of 2 grs. Muriate of zinc to 1 oz. water, on lint; 3, Orfila, two persons ate Chloride of zinc in food, instead of salt; 4, Thos. Stratton, M.D., Edinb. Med. and Surg. Journ., 1848 (2), 335; Elizabeth R., set. seventeen, took a solution of about 12 grs. Chloride of zinc ; 5, same, Jas. C., set. fifty-four years, drank a solution of about 200 grs. Chloride of zinc; 6, H. Leathery, Lancet, 1850 (2), p. 23, a girl, set. fifteen months, drank a quantity of Burnett’s Disinfecting Fluid, death in ten hours after beginning of symptoms; 7, Meinel, Deutsche Clin., 1851 (S. J., 73, 167), the Muriate; 8, John Milton, Times and Gaz., 1851 (2), p. 382, John W., drank a glass of a solution of the chloride; 9, T. O. Ward, ibid., p. 497, a woman, set. forty years, took a solution of the chloride ; 10, Cattell, Edinb. Med., 69, 496,t and Gaz. Med. de Par., 1845 (Brit. Journ. of Horn., vol. xi, 1853, p. 173), effects of the chloride; 11, Richard Hassall, M.D., Lancet, 1853 (2), p. 159, a man swallowed 3 ozs. “ Burnett’s Fluid ’’ on an empty stomach ; 12, Win. Thorn, M.D., Lancet, 1854 (2), p. 259, a boy, set. twenty)’^ months, drank a teaspoonful of “ Crew’s Disinfecting Fluid ;” 13, Geo. Willis, M.D., Association Med. Journ., 1855, p. 743, Mr. P., swallowed about 1 oz. of same; 14, F. Cornelius Webb, M.D., Med. Times and Gaz., 1856 (2), p. 59, Mr. W., took a fluid oz. of “ Bur-

■f This reference is wrong. nett’s Fluid 15, G. R. Cubiti, Beale’s Archives of Med., vol. i, 1857, p. 194, H. V. L., set. fifty-six years, took on an empty stomach 2 tablespoonfuls of Morell’s solution of Chloride of zinc ; 16, Henry Porter, M.D., Brit. Med. Journ., 1859, p. 651, Mr. F., took at least 2 ozs. Burnett’s Fluid (more than 6 drachms Chloride of zinc) ; 17, J. T. Clover, Pharm. Journ., vol. xviii, 1859, p. 140, a man swallowed some of same; 18, Dr. Walks, Guy’s Hosp. Rep., 1859, p. 128, a woman, set. forty years, drank a glass of same, death in fourteen weeks ; 19, Henry G. Wright, M.D., Lancet, 1861 (1) , p. 29, a girl, set. one year and a half, swallowed 14 drachms of same ; 20, same, a girl, set. thirteen years, while suffering with scarlatina, drank a saucer of same; 21, J. W. Cousins, M.D., Med. Times and Gaz., 1862, (2) , 404, a woman drank some of same, death in seven hours and a half; 22, Mr. Crossing, Lancet, 1864 (2), p. 267, a woman, set. sixty-three years, swallowed l-^ ozs. of same, death in fifteen hours and a half; 23, J. R. Randell, M.D., Lancet, 1864 (1), p. 35, a lady, set. twenty-one years, drank some of same, death on the second day ; 24, H. M. Tuckwell, M.D., Brit. Med. Journ., 1874 (2), p. 297, a girl, set. twenty-one years, swallowed about I teacupful of same, death after one hundred and sixteen days ; 25, Lucien Dreyfus, Bui. de la Sac. Anat. de Paris, 1876, p. 122, effects of the Muriate.

—Excessive nervous derangement and prostration,”. — Great disposition to pick the bedclothes,”.—Anxiety,h—Anxiety and alarm,^ —Considerably depressed,^®.—Anxious and depressed face (second day),'^h —Though apparently quite conscious, she had no recollection of what occurred to her for some time,^—Intellect clear by day, but she wandered by night,^h—Semicomatose state, vital powers much prostrated,®.—[10.] lusensibility,^'.

Head p. 216

Giddiness,® “I

Vertigo and fainting

Vertigo and rush of blood to the head, as if she had taken some strong spirit

Rush of blood to head

Most distressing headache

Headache in the occipital and frontal regions

Eyes p. 216

Eyes sunken

Pupils widely dilated (in fifteen minutes)

Pupils small

Pupils contracted to the size of a pin’s head (after one hour) ; dilating (after five hours)

Loss of sight

Nose p. 216

The sense of smell underwent a very singular perversion. Every kind of roast meat, if ever so slightly burnt, roasted coffee, tea, etc., had to my patient an intolerable putrid odor; roast mutton was especially offensive. Scents and perfumes with alcohol gave an odor resembling that of hemlock ; on the other hand, putrid and fecal matter had no apparent odor at all

Face p. 216

Face distorted with agony, and livid

Anxious expression of countenance

Countenance pale and anxious

Face pale, then livid

Countenance dusky and anxious

Face flushed (after one hour)

Swelling of the lips, and thick transparent mucus adhering to them

Vesication of the lips and tongue (in one hour and a half)

Mouth p. 216

Teeth. Toothache in carious teeth

Gunis. Gums spongy (one hundred and sixteenth day),®h

Gums red, and covered with white sordes

Tongue, Tongue furred

Tongue gradually became coated (after ten days)

Tongue and mucous membrane of fauces milkwhite (third day)

Tongue coated with a white fur (after twenty-one days)

Tongue yellow

Tongue and pharynx coated with a thick yellow fur

Tongue intensely red

Tongue, mouth, and gums covered with brown sordes

General Mouth. Frothing at the mouth

Peculiar fetor of breath (one hundred and sixteenth day)

Lining membrane of mouth had the appearance of having undergone the action of a corrosive substance

Back part of the mouth and fauces much inflamed

Saliva. Salivation

Taste. Astringent taste

Metallic taste, as of copper in the mouth

The perversion of taste was not less remarkable than that of smell. Roast meats and crusts of bread were intolerable; and most foods had a burnt taste, especially rav) oysters, which resembled burnt flour, and felt quite dry, clinging to the mouth. Things naturally insipid, such as the crumb of bread and potato, gave a moi’e natural flavor, and were better relished. Acids did not taste acid, nor alkalies alkaline, and to him quinine was not bitter

Tln-oat. Throat inflamed and painful

Throat swollen and painful

Constriction of the throat

Pain in the posterior part of the throat, immediately

Throat sore, and some difficulty in swallowing (second day)

Burning sensation in throat and chest

Burning pain in the gullet

At once a burning sensation all down tbe throat, with great pain and a sense of tightness in my stomach

Soft palate, uvula, tonsils, and pharynx inflamed (second day) ; the mucous membrane of the soft palate covered with a white film, not unlike diphtheritic membrane, a slough was separating from the right tonsil and uvula (fourth day); soft palate covered with a yellowish slough (eighth day),'*h

The first symptom experienced was a sense of constriction in the fauces, and then a hot burning sensation in the stomach, marked the arrival of the fluid in that organ

Burning pain in oesophagus and stomach (in one hour and a half)

Hot burning pain along the course of the oesophagus, and at the pit of the stomach

Difficulty of swallowing

Inability to swallow food, an entirely nervous symptom, as there was no stricture of the throat (after a month)

Stomach p. 217

Apj^etite and Thirst. No natural appetite, but a morbid craving for something wherewith to allay the irritation at the stomach

After two days she gradually pined away, refusing food, or only swallowing it after great persuasion, and invariably rejecting it in about an hour and a half, slightly altered (as by partial digestion), and sometimes mixed with a little blood

Indisposition and want of appetite for three weeks,h

Anorexia for some weeks

Constant thirst, but an intense aversion to swallowing any fluids (after twenty-one days)

Distressing thirst (after five hours)

JTiceoa(fh. Hiccough

Waasea and Vomitlnfj. Nausea

Great nausea

Constant nausea and occasional vomiting

Nausea and pain ; indisposition and want of appetite for three weeks

Most violent sickness; vomiting of a frothy liquid

Nausea and vomiting

Frequent retching (second day)

Ten days after swallowing the poison she was suddenly seized with violent retching, and vomited a mass of black blood, followed by several small clots, all of dark color

Vomiting,*®, etc.

Distressing vomiting

Vomiting ; continued more or less for a week, and all food was rejected for three weeks

Constant vomiting ; after some hours he vomited little else than blood of a dark color

Frightfully vomited and purged (in five minutes)

Vomiting of all her food; she rejects everything, except boiled milk, for two months

Vomits shreds of mucous membrane nearly an inch square

Vomited the contents of the stomach (immediately); less vomiting, but still a little retching, with which she brought up a little mucus (third day) ; vomiting began again, when she brought up a potful of black fluid, with much mucus, some threads of tissue, and much clotted milk (tenth day); vomiting and pain both increased (fifty-eighth day) ; continued vomiting; the vomited matter contained a considerable quantity of altered blood (sixty-fifth day); vomited matters whity brown in color, with a dark sediment (seventy-fourth day); retched and vomited at intervals, a brownish fluid, with a flocculent sediment (ninety-fifth day) ; vomited fluid tinged with bile (one hundred and eighth day); retched at intervals and vomited a greenish fluid (one hundred and sixteenth day)

Spontaneous vomiting (after one hour); after this time the mixture (eggs and milk) was thrown off instantly, after being taken by the most violent action ; it returned as a solid coagulated mass, one portion of which was so large and firm as almost to cause suffocation. This treatment was kept up through the night and until 2 p.m. of the following day, the patient vomiting continuously, and rejecting the milk and eggs in the same curdled state. In the evening blood appeared in the vomited matter, a quantity of mucus, and a portion of mucous membrane, measuring an inch and a quarter square. Throughout the third day the vomited matter was still streaked with blood

Vomiting (after ten minutes) ; the sickness continued, and ever since, after taking food, she has vomited

Violently and continually vomiting, the matter ejected being a muco-biliary fluid

[90-J Full and free vomiting to the amount of many pints, after emetics; after five hours the stomach could retain nothing

Vomiting at first of food and the disinfecting fluid (after mustard and water); afterwards tendency to vomit from slightest pressure on stomach ; later vomiting at intervals of large quantities of mucus, mixed with a considerable portion of dark-colored blood

Blood was vomited at frequent intervals, sometimes bright, often partly digested, and frequently with a most offensive odor

Hematemesis occurred to a considerable amount

Stomach. Many weeks elapsed before be lost all his symptoms ; dyspepsia was immediately produced by taking solid animal or stimulating food, and about three months passed before he was quite well

Much tenderness on pressure at the epigastrium (second day)

Upon pressing the region of the stomach, next day, he winced very much

Pain in the stomach

Pain in stomach and throat

Violent pain in the epigastric region,^, etc.

Violent pain in the epigastric region, as if spreading from other parts of the abdomen

Great pain and heat in the stomach and bowels

Pain in region of stomach increased by the slightest pressure

Severe but not agonizing pain at the pit of the stomach, with a sense of distension; the epigastric pain extended into the right hypochondrium, and was somewhat increased by pressure (after one hour) ; afterwards the pain increased and extended towards the umbilicus ; it became intolerable, and it was difficult to keep the patient in bed (after two hours and a half)

Pain and nausea,k

A feeling of sinking and an urgent craving for food

Violent clawing pain in the stomach, which persisted in great severity for a long time

Severe pain and burning in the stomach

Burning in the stomach

Burning heat in stomach

Burning and griping pain in stomach (instantly)

Burning pain at the epigastrium, and under the left ribs (second day)

Burning pain, griping in stomach, great nausea, and sense of coldness, vomiting of inodorous matter

Burning sensation in stomach, nausea and vomiting

Severe burning and twisting pain in stomach ; the legs are drawn up to the belly

Immediately seized with a violent burning pain at the pit of the stomach, and vomited the contents of it

Abdomen p. 218

Severe pain in the left hypochondrium (fourth day); pain constantly felt iu the left hypochondriura, and increased by food (eighth day)/

Pain in left hypochondriac region/®.

Abdomen painful, distended/®.

Abdomen shrunken, and the edge of the liver sharply traceable (after twenty-one days)

Abdominal tenderness (after a few hours)

Abdomen tender on pressure

Intense abdominal pain

Stool p. 219

Diarrhoea

Violent diarrhoea

Several louse watery evacuations of the bowels

Sudden diarrhoea, with vomiting; she is found in a state of collapse

Frightfully purged and vomited (iu fifteen minutes)

Purging; the motions thin and of a dark-brown color

Large loose and watery motion (after half an hour) ; a desire to go to stool was accompanied for two hours by the discharge of nearly three pints of mucus, mixed apparently with shreds of the intestinal mucous membrane (after a few hours)

Stools fetid

There was no action of the bowels until the third day, when they acted spontaneously; the stool was of a black coffee-grounds appearance, and entirely wanting the odor of fseces. It was quite a fortnight before anything but black stools appeared ; then they were pale, clayey, dry, and crumbling, showing no evidence of bile

Bowels moved only three times in one hundred and sixteen days; a copious, black, pitchy stool followed the enema (twentieth day); after an injection another copious dark pitchy stool (fifty-first day) ; after an injection of warm olive oil, passed a copious motion, pultaceous in consistence, and of a greenish color; the first action of the bowels for eight weeks (one hundred and eighth day)

Constipation

Urinary Organs p. 219

Had passed daily on an average one pint of urine, of specific gravity 1025-1030, turbid with lithate, but containing no albumen (ninety-eighth day)

Respiratory Organs p. 219

Voice. Spoke in a whisper from excessive debility

Voice feeble, almost whispering (second day)

Voice reduced to the faintest whisper (one hundred and sixteenth day)

Voice gone, and could express herself only by whispers (in one hour and a half)

Lost her voice, but gradually recovered after five weeks

Itcsjriration. Breathing thoracic and rapid

Short breath

Great difficulty in breathing

Heart and Pulse p. 219

Pain in the precordial region

Pulse rapid

Pulse quick and fluttering

Pulse small, rapid, and contracted

Pulse very feeble and rapid

Small, rapid pulse ®, etc.

Pulse 144, very feeble (second day)

Pulse 90

Pulse soft, about 80 (after one hour); sinking rapidly, becoming more weak and frequent (after five hours)

Pulse small and weak, 45,’®.

Pulse 45, small, weak (in twenty minutes)

Pulse quick and fluttering

Hard jerking pulse (after a few hours)

Thready pulse (twenty-first day); (second day)

Pulse feeble

Nearly pulseless (in fifteen minutes)

Upper Extremities p. 219

Tremor of the limbs

Superior Extremities p. 219

Pains at the shoulder and back of a spasmodic character (second day)

Occasional attacks of tetanic spasms in the right forearm and hand, which lasted for a few minutes and then passed off',®

Inferior Extremities p. 219

Legs drawn up on belly (in twenty minutes)

Severe cramp iu the lower extremities (after two hours and a half)

Generalities p. 219

Greatly emaciated

Great emaciation was observed ; the skin looked as if it was stretched tightly over the bones of the face and hands

Extreme emaciation (one hundred and sixteenth day)

Lay prostrate in bed

Bent nearly double

A gradual improvement was made for the first two months, but too early a return to business brought on an attack of illness of extreme severity. The patient was seized with symptoms resembling the onset of influenza ; there was excessive nervous prostration, hyperesthesia, and great irritability, which passed into a condition resembling tetanus; no noise could be borne; the slightest shocks caused a start; if the bedclothes touched the toes, tremors approaching convulsions ensued. For five nights there was no sleep. There was a terrible pain in the right side of the head, which lasted for hours; when this subsided, nausea and retching ensued ; the pulse rose to 120 or 130. There was some febrile movement; the skin was alternately very dry and moist. Du ring this secondary attack the liver again evinced a sluggishness of action, and the urine, which had hitherto been normal in quantity, became excessive ; on one occasion, seven pints were passed in five hours. For fourteen days the patient was confined to his bed, when the intensity of the symptoms had subsided, he still complained of the gnawing pain in the stomach

Sometimes paralysis

Convulsions

General spasms

Jactitation and restlessness (after five hours)

During the night she had occasional fits, losing consciousness, and having twitchings of the facial muscles

Spasmodic movements of the muscles of the face and extremities

Weak and thin ; reeled rather than walked

Great weakness

General exhaustion

Profound prostration, followed by collapse and death

Restless

Faintness ’®, etc.

Great faintness (second day)

The collapse had become extreme; the face and extremities were purple, and the voice thick and husky, and subsiding into a hoarse whisper; the heart’s action quite imperceptible, both at the wrist and cardiac region, yet the state of things was more like that of a cholera patient than one in syncope; the pupils were largely dilated, and he complained of being unable to see distinctly (after nearly seven hours); he died without a spasm or struggle of any kind, retaining his consciousness to the last (after seven hours, and forty minutes)

Collapse, closely resembling cholera

Pain in the affected part

Skin p. 220

From the third day the skin assumed a ghastly bluish-green tint, this lasted for a long time

Skin dusky

Arms livid and cold

Skin dry and harsh as the child wasted (after ten days) ; harsh and dingy in hue, exhaling that peculiar odor which is almost distinctive of starvation (after twenty-one days)

Skin drawn tightly across the nose, and thinning off towards the mouth, in place of filling out to form the lips (after twenty-one days)

Trunk and extremities had a strange bluish mottled appearance, from innumerable petechia and vibices (one hundred and sixteenth day)

Skin dry and hot

Skin of legs covered with thick scales (one hundred and sixteenth day)

Sleep and Dreams p. 220

Utter inability to sleep

Slept restlessly, lying always on right side, with her legs drawn up, and ground her teeth during sleep (after ten days)

Fever p. 220

Cliillhiess. Coldness

General surface of body cold and bedewed with perspiration

Surface cold and wet, with clammy perspiration

Very cold anfl pale (in fifteen minutes)

Cold clammy skin

Chill and heat

Alternations of cold and heat

Extremities cold (after five hours)

Skin moderately warm to the touch, though she constantly complained of cold, notwithstanding the heat of the weather was intense (after twenty-one days)

Heat. Sensation of warmth in the parts to which it is applied, quickly followed by violent eschar forms

Her temperature rose for the few days after the poison was taken till it reached 100.6° ; it then fell slowly, and reached its lowest point 96.4°, the ninety-seventh day; from which time till death, it ranged from 96° to 98°, but it never fell below 96“

Sweat. Forehead bathed in sweat, the general surface warm (alter one hour)

Clammy sweats (in one hour and a half Cold sweat

Surface bedewed with a cold clammy perspiration