On the physiological and medicinal properties of bromine and its compounds : also on the analogies between the physiological and medicinal properties of these bodies, and those of chlorine and iodine, with their correspondent compounds : being the Harveian Prize Essay for 1842 / by R. M. Glover.

  • Robert Mortimer Glover
Date:
[1842]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: On the physiological and medicinal properties of bromine and its compounds : also on the analogies between the physiological and medicinal properties of these bodies, and those of chlorine and iodine, with their correspondent compounds : being the Harveian Prize Essay for 1842 / by R. M. Glover. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The University of Glasgow Library. The original may be consulted at The University of Glasgow Library.

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    was much serum in the ventricles; and bloody serum at the base of the brain. ExpL 64tk. Sixty minims of chloroform were injected into the peritoneal cavity of a large male rabbit. Death ensued in seven- teen minutes. Symptoms.—Slight transitory excitement; loss of power over the limbs ; ])rofound coma; excessively dilated pupil; heart's ac- tion feeble ; great excitement of the respiration and dilatation of the chest; a few slight movements of the limbs synchronous with the respiration. No motion could be excited by pricking or pinching the limbs; nor did the eyelids move on approaching an object to the eye. He passed urine a few minutes before death. Inspection.—Small intestines greatly congested externally, and their coats hardened where the chloroform had touched; a large oval ecchymosis, which might equal the superficies of a half-crown, was visible between the muscular and peritoneal coats of the sto- mach. On cutting into the chest, the lungs collapsed, but con- tained much dark-coloured blood. The heart had dark blood in both its cavities, and retained its irritability. The peristaltic action was stopped ; and the voluntary muscles had little contractility. The brain was healthy; the smell of chloroform was distinct in the chest and in the urine passed a few minutes before death. Expt. 65th. Sixty minims of chloroform, in this experiment, killed a rabbit in half an hour when injected into the stomach. The symptoms were first those of action on the spinal cord, or primarily possibly on the sympathetic system ; the respiration be- came affected, and coma supervened. After death the mucous membrane of the stomach was found white and corroded near the oesophagus ; over the rest of the car- diac portion dotted with purple patches of ecchymosis. The epi- thelium was removed from the pyloric portion and the mucous membrane reddened. In other experiments with this substance on rabbits, the animals which recovered from the primary effects of its introduction into the stomach were sometimes found to die of the acute gastritis thus induced. Remarks.—Great resemblance exists among the properties of this class of bodies which appear to form a new order of poisonous substances, uniting in themselves physiological properties which are not found united in any other known class of poisons. The distinguishing characteristics are first> the remarkable power they possess of obstructing the pulmonic circulation, whether they are injected into the veins or introduced into the stomach ; then the action on the spinal cord and afterwards on the brain ; and lastly, the corrosive and irritant action exercised on the stomach. In the case where chloroform was injected into the carotid, death ap- pears to have been produced by the loss of nervous action consc-