toms occur, and from some experiments, in which a gentleman immersed himself (and afterwards some birds) in this gas, and soon experienced its pecular effects, notwithstanding he breathed pure air by means of a tube; together also with the facts that animals exposed to a mixture of carbonic acid and oxygen expire suddenly, notwithstanding that the oxygen is in as large a proportion as it exists in the atmosphere; from all these, we say, together with other facts already detailed under different heads, the author conceives himself justified in making the following deductions :

"1. That carbonic acid gas, sufficiently diluted with air (as in charcoal-vapor) does not act fatally, by closing the glottis spasmodically, or by excluding oxygen, but as a specific poi

son.

2. That such an atmosphere will produce death; although it may contain a sufficient amount of oxygen to support life per se, and to allow the arterialization of the blood to proceed on which account no dependence can be placed on the dark or florid color of the blood, as arguments for or against poisoning by carbonic acid gas.

3. That such diluted carbonic acid acts most probably on the nervous system, primarily; and, secondarily, by no means essentially on the circulating fluid.

4. That the death of persons inhaling an atmosphere vitiated by carbonic acid is produced by the accession of apoplexy, often attended by serous effusion into the ventricles, or on the surface of the brain; and occasionally even by extravasation of blood from some cerebral vessel.

5. That no dependence can be placed on the bloated and red, or pale and contracted features; on the liquidity or coagulated state of the blood; on the injection or paleness of the mucous membrane of the intestinal tubes or air-pipes; or on the flexibility or rigidity of the limbs; as positive arguments for or against the action of carbonic acid as a cause of death, in individual cases, falling under medico-legal investigation."

5.-Two cases of Poisoning by the Inhalation of Carburetted Hydrogen. By Thos. P. Teale, F. L. S. (Communicated by C. Aeton Key, Esq.)

This article details the circumstances connected with two cases of fatal poisoning by carburetted hydrogen gas, which occurred in Leeds, England, December, 1838. The two individuals, an old woman sixty-nine years of age, corpulent and subject to attacks of paralysis, and another female aged twenty-two years, in good health, occupying two small rooms on the ground floor of Potter's Almshouse, were, during the day previous to the night on which they suffered its fatal effects, annoyed by the smell of gas, which escaped from a rupture in a pipe that passed in a few feet of their room. Between the rupture in the pipe and a sink in the floor of a pantry which opened into their sleeping room, there was a free communication for the gas by means of loose earth and rubbish that intervened; and in the evening an explosion of the gas took place in the pantry from a lighted candle being taken into it. After the explosion, by which probably the greater portion of the gas then in the room was consumed, no smell of it was perceived, and apprehending no further danger, the two individuals spoken of retired to the same bed about ten o'clock. About nine the next morning, the neighbors becoming alarmed at their rising so unusually late, broke into the room, immediately perceived a smell of coal gas, the old woman was found lying on her side, lifeless, cold, and the muscles rigid; the young woman was lying upon her face, was dead, but the trunk and extremities were still quite warm and flexible. The bed clothes were but little displaced, and there was no other indication of any struggling by either of them.

Morbid appearances presented by an examination of the body of the young woman about ten hours after death:

External surface generally very pale, save some mottled florid discolorations on the neck and back; features not distorted; pupils moderately dilated; muscles rigid; fingers flexed.

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Head-Scalp contained some, but was not loaded with blood; interior membranes, their vessels and sinuses in a normal condition; substance of the brain firm, contained a very fluid and rather florid blood" which oozed at numerous points when cut into; lateral ventricles contained about an ounce and a half of transparent serum. A small quantity of serum was collected in the spinal canal, but there was no observable lesion in any of its contents.

Chest-The muscles exposed in opening this cavity, together also with those of the abdomen, exhibited a very light and florid appearance. The tissues generally of this cavity and the abdomen were pallid, and exhibited a "remarkable absence of turgidity of the veins.

Heart-Its right side contained a small quantity of fluid blood, not so dark as venous blood generally; left ventricle firmly contracted and empty.

Lungs-Substance generally much less crepitant than natural. Mucous lining red.

Abdomen-Mucous membrane of stomach, "thick, opaque, and easily detached, and presented reddened streaks upon its folds-mucous membrane of the small intestines, generally red, but presented patches in which the redness was most intense. This vascularity was most considerable in the jejunum, next in the duodenum, and least in the ileum. Throughout the same surface also, were "multitudes of extremely minute ecchymoses." Liver-fluid blood oozed freely from

it on being cut. Gall-bladder distended with a thin watery fluid. "The uterus contained a little sanguineous mucus, and its internal membrane was red." (We will here remark that the catamenial discharge had ceased about two days before her death.) "The left ovary contained a body about the size of a pea, having the appearance of clotted blood. The urinary bladder was flaccid, and contained about half an ounce of opaque white fluid: its mucous membrane was white." Morbid appearances presented by examination of the old

woman.

External-Same as in the former case,

Interior

Head-Its external the same as in the other. Sinuses of the dura-mater, contained a moderate quantity of very fluid blood. Considerable sub-arachnoid serous effusion, which was more abundant upon the upper surface of the hemispheres-and somewhat turbid in same places. It was so considerable as to penetrate the fissures between the convolutions, separating and giving them the appearance of being atrophied. The arachnoid and pia-mater were easily detached from the surface of the brain. The substance of the brain contained fluid blood of a florid hue, which escaped at numerous points of an incised surface. Lateral ventricles emptysmall, and exhibited numerous very firm adhesions.

Chest.-Generally the same as in the former case. Heartright side contained rather more, but not turgid with blood, of the same kind, together with a small fibrinous concretionleft side not so firmly contracted, and contained a quantity of the same partially changed blood, together with a small fibrinous concretion. Lungs-more crepitant than in former case, presented the mottled appearance of age, with the intervals too red-considerable blood and frothy fluid oozed upon incision-and the mucous lining was injected.

Abdomen.-Stomach normal-small intestines distended with gas that "burnt with a blue flame"-their mucous membrane presented the same vascularity and ecchymosed appearance as in the former case. "Liver, large and granular, fluid blood escaping freely from its cut surfaces." All the other viscera healthy.

A portion of the gas from the small intestines was analyzed, and found to contain:

It is no unusual thing however to find combustible gas in the intestines of persons who die under a variety of circum

stances.

In concluding, the author expresses in plain terms, his opinion that the gas, if respired unmixed with air, would speedily prove fatal, by producing asphyxia; and seems inclined to believe that, in the two cases just detailed, it acted somewhat in the same way; at any rate not as a poison. In this opinion he is supported by experiments which have been made upon animals with this gas, and by the notorious fact that colliers frequently breathe for a considerable time, an atmosphere strongly impregnated with it, without suffering any serious consequences. But on the other hand, from some experiments made upon himself by Sir H. Davy, it would seem to be decidedly a narcotic poison. And again, the absence in both of these cases of any considerable discoloration of the skin, engorgement with blood of the liver, spleen and kidneys, and turgid state of the pulmonary vessels, right auricle and ventricle, and of the venous system generally, all of