No account has yet been published of the morbid appearances in man.
The proper antidote is sulphate of magnesia. Failing this, weak milk of lime may be given with advantage.
Appendix on Tartaric and Citric Acid.—These two acids may be taken in considerable quantities without injury. Dr. Coindet and I gave a drachm of each in solution to cats, without observing that the animals suffered any inconvenience.[1] Dr. Sibbald, a surgeon of this place, has informed me of an instance in which a patient of his took in twenty-four hours six drachms of tartaric acid, having by mistake omitted the carbonate of potass sent along with the acid to make effervescing draughts; and yet he did not suffer any more inconvenience then the cats on which Dr. Coindet and I experimented.
Pommer, however, found that tartaric acid is scarcely less active than oxalic acid when injected into the blood. When fifteen grains dissolved in half an ounce of water were injected into the femoral vein of a dog in four doses, difficult breathing and discharge of fæces and urine were produced after each operation, and death speedily ensued without any other particular symptom. As in the instance of oxalic acid, the blood in the great veins was not apparently changed in any of its physical qualities. The heart continued contractile long after death, while in the case of oxalic acid its contractility was suddenly extinguished.[2]
CHAPTER VII.
OF THE ALKALIS AND ALKALINE SALTS.
The second order of the class of irritants comprehends the alkalis,
some of the alkaline salts, and lime. The species which it includes
are little allied to one another except in chemical composition; and
in particular they are little allied in physiological properties. It appears
impossible, however, to make a better arrangement than that
proposed by Orfila, which will therefore be here followed.
Most of the poisons of the second order are powerful local irritants. Some of them likewise act indirectly on distant organs; and a few are more distinguished by their remote than by their local effects. This order may be conveniently divided into two groups,—the one embracing the two fixed alkalis with their carbonates, nitrates, and chlorides, and also lime,—the other ammonia, with its salts, and likewise the alkaline sulphurets.
The action of the first group is purely irritant and strictly local. When concentrated, the fixed alkalis and their carbonates produce chemical decomposition, softening the animal tissues, and reducing
