Report of the Committee appointed by the Westminster Medical Society, to investigate the subject of adulterating candles with arsenic; and to ascertain the probable effect of the use of such candles upon health and life ... / transcribed and reprinted by James Scott.

  • Westminster Medical Society (London, England)
Date:
1838
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Report of the Committee appointed by the Westminster Medical Society, to investigate the subject of adulterating candles with arsenic; and to ascertain the probable effect of the use of such candles upon health and life ... / transcribed and reprinted by James Scott. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    24/66 (page 24)
    *24 Third Form of Arsenical Vapours.—Of the de¬ leterious effects of the vapours of arsenious acid on the human frame, which more directly bear on the present question, we find in the Annals of Modern Medicine a well-authenticated example, in the experiment made on himself and a friend of his, by Dr. Joseph Waltl, who published the results in the twenty-seventh volume of the 44 Re- portorium fur die Pharmacie,” edited by Buchner. Having imagined that arsenious vapours might be useful in curing that most obstinate disorder of the skin called ichthyosis, Dr. Waltl wished first to ascertain what effect they might have on the human constitution. He, therefore, deter¬ mined to try that effect on himself. Accordingly, he projected six grains of arsenious acid on tho¬ roughly incandescent coals, and as soon as the arsenious vapours were disengaged, he removed the chafing dish to a remote part of the room in which he was. In the course of the night he ex- perienced extreme shortness of breath, a constric¬ tion of the windpipe, a dreadful headache ; while his pulse became frequent and irregular. Similar symptoms, but much severer, occurred in the per¬ son of his friend, who chose to try the same expe¬ riment on himself afterwards; and Dr. Waltl concludes, from these experiments, that arsenious vapours affect, as diluted poison, by their imme¬ diate contact with the aerial vessels of the lungs. It may not be out of place here to observe, that during the experiments which were carrying on at Dr. Scott’s, that gentleman, who watched them with perseverance, experienced smarting and un-