Treatise on Poisons by Sir Robert Christison

OF POISONING WITH THE ALKALINE AND EARTHY CHLORIDES. There can be little doubt that the _chlorides_ of _soda_, _potass_, and _lime_ are active poisons; but the first two have alone been hitherto carefully investigated by physiological experiments. The two alkaline chlorides are usually seen in the form of colourless solutions. That of potass is little known in this country; but that of soda is familiar to all in the shape of Fincham’s chloride of soda or bleaching liquid. The chloride of lime, which is best known of them all, is usually in the form of a dry powder, deliquescent, and acrid, commonly termed bleaching powder. All these substances are easily known by their peculiar odour of chlorine, and the copious disengagement of that gas on the addition of sulphuric acid. The action of chloride of soda on the animal body has been examined by Segalas, who infers that it is an irritant poison, which, however, at times occasions symptoms of an affection of the nervous system. He remarked that three ounces of the solution, commonly sold in Paris under the name of Labarraque’s disinfecting liquid, caused immediate death by coagulating the blood in the heart, when injected into a vein in a dog. Two ounces introduced into the peritonæum excited palpitation, oppressed breathing, constant restlessness, and death in ten minutes; and three drachms did not prove fatal for some hours, tetanic spasms being produced in the first instance, and peritonæal inflammation being found after death. One ounce introduced into the stomach of a dog excited immediate vomiting, and no farther inconvenience; and two ounces retained by a ligature on the gullet brought on violent efforts to vomit, from which the animal was gradually recovering, when it was killed in twenty-four hours for the sake of observing the appearances. The stomach was found generally inflamed and interspersed with dark, gangrenous-like spots.[464] I am not acquainted with any case of poisoning with these substances in the human subject. But it is probable that symptoms of pure irritation and inflammation will occur, and that moderate doses may prove fatal.