ASPHYXIANTS.
NOXIOUS GASES, PRODUCING NEUROTIC SYMPTOMS.
The most important of these asphyxiant noxious gases are carbonic oxide,
carbonic acid, sulphuretted hydrogen, and carburetted hydrogen.
CARBONIC OXIDE is a much more dangerous poison than is carbonic acid,
but poisoning with it in a pure state is rare. It constitutes an
ingredient in most vapors produced by burning coke or carbon, especially
if the combustion is imperfect. It forms with the coloring matter of the
blood a remarkably stable compound of a light red color; in point of
fact it is the impossibility of exchanging carbonic acid for oxygen in
the lungs which causes death. After death the blood is bright red in
hue.
CARBONIC ACID GAS.--This heavy inodorous gas is the cause of numerous
accidents, owing to the variety of sources from which it is produced.
It is formed from burning fuel, from the calcination of limestone or
chalk, and it is a product of respiration. It is diffused through wells,
coal-mines, and caverns. During fermentation it is largely given off,
and accumulates in beer vats. The vapor of charcoal partly owes its
poisonous properties to carbonic acid gas, as does that arising from
lime and brick-kilns.
In this country suicides rarely resort to carbonic acid gas to
accomplish their ends; in France they very frequently do so.
_Symptoms._--In its pure state this gas causes death by asphyxia, the
glottis becoming spasmodically closed the moment the vapor comes in
contact with it. When sufficiently diluted to be inspired it acts by
absorption, giving rise to giddiness, headache, vomiting, a tendency to
sleep, and loss of muscular power. The heat of the body continues, and
the limbs are usually flexible. The countenance gets livid, the
respiration becomes hurried and stertorous, and complete insensibility
ensues; while the heart's action, which was at first rapid, soon ceases.
_Post-mortem Appearances._--The body is generally swollen and livid,
especially about the face. The countenance is not always bloated,
sometimes being calm and pale. The limbs are often rigid, the skin is
marked with livid patches, and the abdomen is distended with gas. The
right cavities of the heart, the lungs, and large veins, are found
gorged with venous blood; while the brain and its membranes are usually
very vascular, and occasionally there is serious effusion.
_Treatment._--Prompt removal to the pure air, cold affusion, and
stimulating applications to the chest and extremities, are the best
means for resuscitation. If the countenance is bloated, venesection may
be performed. Artificial respiration, galvanism, and the inhalation of
oxygen gas, have been found useful.
SULPHURETTED HYDROGEN.--This gas is a very active poison, but from its
offensive odor (resembling that of rotten eggs) it is not so liable to
be accidentally inhaled as is carbonic acid. It is usually met with
combined with other gases, resulting from the putrefaction of animal
matter. When breathed in a diluted state, it speedily produces
insensibility and death. Workmen long engaged in drains and sewers, or
in any atmosphere contaminated with sulphuretted hydrogen gas, suffer
from giddiness, nausea, and weakness; these symptoms ending at length in
a kind of fever, which is often fatal.
In acute cases there will be little hope of recovery, unless the
individual can be quickly removed into the open air, and stimulants,
&c., applied. Chlorine gas, well diluted with common air, might be
employed, as it breaks up the gas.
CARBURETTED HYDROGEN (_Coal Gas_).--The symptoms produced by this gas,
when mixed with air and inhaled, are those of asphyxia. If the person
breathing it should be roused before a fatal quantity has been inhaled,
the chief effects may be intense headache, labored and oppressed
respiration, quickened action of the heart, sickness, and great loss of
power.
In 1841 a family in Strasburg were poisoned by being in an atmosphere
contaminated with coal gas, for forty hours. Of the six members, four
were found dead, while the father died in twenty-four hours; but the
mother recovered. The gas escaped from a pipe which passed under the
cellar of the house where this family resided; so that it probably
poisoned the air gradually, and gave rise to no suffering to warn the
unfortunates.