§ 890. Chromate of lead has also caused death. In one case[968] the breathing of chromate of lead dust seems to have been fatal; and there is also a double poisoning recorded by Dr. Linstow,[969] of two children, aged three and a half and one and three-quarter years respectively, who ate some yellow ornaments,[970] which were used to adorn a cake, and which contained chrome yellow (chromate of lead). The younger died in two and the elder in five days. The symptoms were redness of the face, dulness, and an inclination to sleep; neither complained of pain; the younger one had a little diarrhœa, but the elder neither sickness nor purging.
[968] Ueber tödtliche Vergiftung durch Einathmen des Staubes von mit Chromsäuren Blei-Oxyde gefärbten Garne.—Vierteljahrsschr. f. ger. Med., 1877, Bd. xxvii. Hft. i. p. 29.
[969] Ibid., Bd. xx. s. 60, 1874.
[970] The ornaments were imitations of bees; each contained ·27 grm. gum tragacanth, ·0042 grm. neutral lead chromate.
§ 891. Post-mortem Appearances.—We possess some very exact researches[971] upon the pathological changes induced by subcutaneous injections of solutions of potassic bichromate on animals, and especially on the changes which the kidneys undergo. If the animal is killed, or dies a few hours after the injection, there are apparently no striking appearances, but a closer microscopical examination shows considerable changes. The epithelium of the tubuli contorti exhibits a yellow cloudiness, and the outline of the cells is irregular and jagged. The glomeruli are moderately injected, and their capsules contain an albuminous exudation; the canaliculi are filled with round cells imbedded in a fluid which, on heating, coagulates, and is therefore albuminous or fibrinous; probably this is the first stage of the formation of fibrinous casts.