by Dr. Lendrick. His patient had taken about half a drachm of corrosive sublimate, and was attacked with most of the usual symptoms, except vomiting. White of eggs was administered a considerable time afterwards, the beneficial effects of which were instantaneous and well-marked; and the patient recovered.[1] A few years ago Orfila's discovery was the means of saving the life of M. Thenard the chemist. While at lecture, this gentleman inadvertently swallowed, instead of water, a mouthful of a concentrated solution of corrosive sublimate; but having immediately perceived the fatal error, he sent for white of eggs, which he was fortunate enough to procure in five minutes. Although at this time he had not vomited, he suffered no material harm. Without the prompt use of the albumen, he would almost infallibly have perished.[2]
Albumen is chiefly useful in the early stage of poisoning with corrosive sublimate, and is particularly called for when vomiting does not take place. But it farther appears to be an excellent demulcent in the advanced stages.
On a previous occasion, mention was made of a few of the facts brought forward by Professor Taddei to prove the virtues of the gluten of wheat as an antidote for poisoning with corrosive sublimate [297, 336], so that nothing more need be said on the subject in the present place. As it is difficult to bring the whole of a fluid containing corrosive sublimate into speedy contact with pulverized gluten, which when put into water becomes agglutinated into a mass, the discoverer of this antidote proposes to give it in the form of emulsion with soft soap. This is made by mixing, partly in a mortar and partly with the hand, five or six parts of fresh gluten with fifty parts of a solution of soft soap. And in order to have a store always at hand, this emulsion, after standing and being frequently stirred for twenty-four hours, is to be evaporated to dryness in shallow vessels, and reduced to powder. The powder may be converted into a frothy emulsion in a few minutes.[3] Taddei made use of this powder with complete success in the case of a man who had swallowed seven grains of corrosive sublimate by mistake for calomel. Violent symptoms followed the taking of the poison; but they were immediately assuaged by the administration of the antidote; and the person soon got quite well.[4] It is probable that wheat-flour will prove an effectual antidote by reason of the gluten it contains. On agitating for a few seconds a solution of twelve grains of corrosive sublimate along with three ounces of a strong emulsion of flour, and immediately filtering,—I find that ammonia and carbonate of potass have little or no effect, that hydriodate of potass occasions a yellow precipitate, and that the acrid, astringent taste of the solution is removed; whence it may be inferred, that the corrosive sublimate is all decomposed, that little mercury remains in solution, and that what does remain is in the form of a chloride of mercury and gluten.
