Marchand fed a dog of 17 kilos. in weight with 5 grms. of potassic chlorate for a week. As there were no apparent symptoms, the dose was doubled for two days; and as there was still no visible effect, lastly, 50 grms. of sodic chlorate were given in 5 doses. In the following night the dog died. The blood was found after death to be of a sepia-brown colour, and remained unaltered when exposed to the air. The organs were generally of an unnatural brown colour; the spleen was enormously enlarged; the kidneys were swollen, and of a dark chocolate brown—on section, almost black-brown, the colour being nearly equal, both in the substance and in the capsule. A microscopical examination of the kidney showed the canaliculi to be filled with brownish cylinders consisting of altered blood. A spectroscopic examination of the blood showed weak hæmoglobin bands, and a narrow band in the red. With farther dilution, the hæmoglobin bands vanished, but the band in the red remained. The diluted blood, when exposed to the light, still remained of a coffee-brown colour; and on shaking, a white-brown froth was produced on the surface.
A second experiment in which a hound of from 7-8 kilos. in weight was given 3-5 grm. doses of potassic chlorate in sixteen hours, and killed by bleeding seven to eight hours after the last dose, showed very similar appearances. The kidneys were intensely congested, and the peculiar brown colour was noticeable.
§ 131. Effects on Man.—I find in literature thirty-nine cases recorded, in which poisonous symptoms were directly ascribed to the action of chlorate of potassium; twenty-eight of these terminated fatally. A quadruple instance of poisoning, recorded by Brouardel and L’Hôte,[128] illustrates many of the points relative to the time at which the symptoms may be expected to commence, and the general aspect of potassic chlorate poisoning. The “supérieure” of a religious institution was in the habit of giving, for charitable purposes, a potion containing 15 grms. (3·8 drms.) of potassic chlorate, dissolved in 360 c.c. (about 121⁄2 ozs.) of a vegetable infusion.
[128] Annales d’Hygiène publique, 1881, p. 232.
This potion was administered to four children—viz., David, aged 21⁄2; Cousin, aged 31⁄2; Salmont, 21⁄2; and Guérin, 21⁄2. David took the whole in two and a half hours, the symptoms commenced after the potion was finished, and the child died five and a half hours after taking the first dose; there were vomiting and diarrhœa. Cousin took the medicine in seven hours; the symptoms also commenced after the last spoonful, and the death took place eight and a half hours from the first spoonful. The symptoms were mainly those of great depression; the lips were blue, the pulse feeble, there was no vomiting, no diarrhœa. Salmont took the medicine in nine hours, and died in twelve. There was some diarrhœa, the stools were of a green colour. Guérin took the whole in two hours, the symptoms commenced in four hours; the lips were very pale, the gums blue. Death took place in four days.
There was an autopsy in the case of David only. The stomach showed a large ecchymosis on its mucous membrane, as if it had been burnt by an acid; the spleen was gorged with blood, and its tissue friable; the kidneys do not seem to have been thoroughly examined, but are said to have been tumefied. Potassic chlorate was discovered by dialysis. In the cases of the children just detailed, the symptoms appear to be a mixture of the depressing action of the potassium, and irritant action of the chlorate.
§ 132. In adults, the main symptoms are those of nephritis, and the fatal dose for an adult is somewhere about an ounce (28·3 grms.), but half this quantity would probably be dangerous, especially if given to a person who had congestion or disease of the kidneys.