This singular substance was accidentally discovered by _Brandt_, a
chemist of Hamburgh, in the year 1669,[340] as he was attempting to
extract from human urine a liquid capable of converting silver into
gold. It was also subsequently discovered by _Kunkel_ and by _Boyle_,
without these latter chemists having, in any way, participated in the
researches of each other.
Phosphorus, when pure, is semi-transparent and of a yellowish colour;
but when kept some time in water, it becomes opaque externally, and then
has a great resemblance to white wax. Its consistence is nearly that of
wax; it may be cut with a knife. Its mean specific gravity is 1·770. It
generally occurs in sticks. When exposed to the air, provided the
temperature be not lower than 43°, it emits a white smoke, which has the
smell of garlic, and is luminous in the dark. This smoke is more
abundant, the higher the temperature is, and is occasioned by the
gradual combustion of the phosphorus. When heated to 148° it takes fire,
and burns with a very bright flame, and gives out a great quantity of
white smoke, which is phosphoric acid. Oils dissolve phosphorus,
provided the temperature be a little raised. Water has no effect upon
it, unless it be aerated, when it renders the surface of the phosphorus
opaque and white, which in a short time becomes red. This change depends
upon oxidation.
_Symptoms of poisoning by Phosphorus._
This substance, whether introduced into the stomach in its pure form, or
dissolved in oil, will occasion the most violent symptoms, from its
escharotic action,[341] It has been employed in medicine,[342] in a
state of minute division, in the dose of one-fourth of a grain, and is
said by _Leroi_ to be very efficacious in restoring and establishing the
force[343] of young persons exhausted by sensual indulgence, and of even
prolonging the life of the aged.[344] It has also been given as a
stimulant in local fevers. We are, however, greatly inclined to question
the safety of such a practice, notwithstanding the diminutiveness of the
dose. The reader will find some interesting cases of poisoning by
phosphorus, translated from the German work of _Weickard_, in _Hooper’s_
Medical Dictionary, under the consideration of that article. Should such
a case present itself for the investigation of the forensic physician,
he will not find any difficulty in identifying the substance; its
external character, its smell, and, above all, its peculiar property of
yielding luminous vapour, are too palpable and distinctive, to admit the
possibility of error.
MECHANICAL POISONS—_Powdered glass_—_Enamel powder_—_Chopped hair, &c.
&c._
We have already examined the pretensions of these bodies to the rank of
corrosive poisons, (_page_ 145) and we should have not reverted to the
subject, but from a wish to introduce the account of “_a case of
Schirrus in the intestines, arising from hairs remaining in the canal_,”
as related in the _Edinburgh Medical Journal_,[345] by _Dr. Burrell_,
and which had, on the former occasion, escaped our notice. The subject
of this history, _Laurence Harding_, æt. 35, being a private soldier,
was admitted into the regimental hospital, for an unrelenting
constipation of the bowels; but it appears also that he had been
affected with dyspeptic symptoms, and pain in his abdomen, for several
years; which pain was aggravated by the ingestion of solid food. He
received but little benefit from the remedies that were administered,
his strength gradually declined, and, about a month after his admission,
he expired.
“On laying open the abdomen, the stomach was found much thickened
throughout its whole substance, and the pylorus very much contracted,
which contraction continued down the duodenum. Through all the
intestines this thickening and gristly appearance was observed. The
colon was prodigiously enlarged in its calibre, until where it forms its
sigmoid flexure; at which point there were three distinct holes
ulcerated through the coats of the intestine, and forming a
communication with the abdominal cavity. Beyond the sigmoid flexure the
intestine was contracted in its diameter, so as hardly to admit the
little finger to pass downwards. On cutting open the pylorus and small
intestines, the internal coats were found to be covered with a soft
substance, which resembled size. The internal coats of the colon were of
a dark colour, and in general were completely ulcerated, and hanging in
shreds. The colour of the colon was of a dark lurid red. At the sigmoid
flexure there was much contraction, and the thickening was so great on
one side, and the valve found so considerable, as hardly to admit a
common bougie through it. The portion forming the sigmoid flexure was
cut out; and on laying it open, and removing some hardened fæces, _five
or six hog’s brittles were seen distinctly crossing each other in
different directions_; they were partially invested in the villous coat,
which had grown over them, and which had retained them in the different
positions in which they were placed; and so firmly were they kept down
by those partial coverings, that it required some force to draw them
out. The mesenteric glands were of a cartilaginous appearance; the liver
was suffused with blood, and the gall-bladder full of bile. The spleen
was very small, and compressed into an oblong shape, probably arising
from the pressure of the colon when distended with feculent matter.
This man had formerly been a shoemaker. There was no evidence as to the
period at which he swallowed these hairs; but, from the derangement
which always existed in the bowels, and the pain referred to the sigmoid
flexure, little doubt can be entertained but that these hairs were the
cause of all his complaints, and ultimately of his death.”