Chronic poisoning by bisulphide of carbon / by Alexander Bruce.

  • Bruce, Alexander, 1854-1911.
Date:
1884
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Chronic poisoning by bisulphide of carbon / by Alexander Bruce. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by UCL Library Services. The original may be consulted at UCL (University College London)

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    either convex or concave lenses. Atropine was dropped into each eye, and an ophthalmoscopic examination made; but what was found, it is now impossible to say. A curious condition of vision followed: for a day afterwards everything appeared red, or rather rose coloured, instead of green. (His other special senses do not seem to liave suffered in any way. He complains of having had a constant cold band extending round his forehead back to the occipital protuberance. Unlike the other cases, he does not seem to have lost flesh to any remarkable extent.) He went to the country for eight weeks, where he gradually improved; the feeling of weakness passed off from his limbs. In seven weeks the green vision had gone; he began first to see objects at a distance, and after three or four months he could see to read with glasses (of 2'5 D) perfectly. On examination (2nd April) the pupils are equal, of moderate size, react normally. There is 1 D of hypermetropia; the fundus oculi is quite healthy, and shows no trace of any previous disease. There is no colour-blindness. His otlier symptoms also gradually left him, and he is now, intellectu- ally and physically, as good a man as ever he was, as he says. Case II.—G. P., set. 49, married, of temperate habits, and pre- viously always fairly healthy; has been employed for a year in the same factory, at first as a general workman, and later regularly in the curing-house, for about ten hours daily. For two months he did not feel any marked symptoms, except that occasionally his eyes would water profusely, and that he would feel dizzy, especially late in the day, and when walking home from his work. After this period he became rapidly worse, and began to feel that he was really ill. He lost appetite, and had a constant feeling of nausea, and after a short time vomited the greater part of his meals. He felt always tired, and on returning from work generally went straight to bed, or remained sitting in a listless condition, not caring to speak or be spoken to. He was not breathless on exertion; had no palpitation; no cough except when exposed to very concentrated fumes of the vapour in the workroom. He became unable to retain his urine for any length of time, and during the last tw^o weeks of his work it was passed with some pain and difficulty. He became pale and emaciated. His hands, forearms, feet, and legs felt cold and benumbed, or tingling. There were frequent and severe cramps in the legs. He soon became so feeble that he could not do the work of a small boy, and that he could only walk on a level floor, and that he had to be assisted up and down stairs to and from his house. He seems to have got rapidly worse during the last three weeks of his work in the factory. He found himself sometimes, on coming home in the evenings, excited as if with alcohol, but never so bad as to be unaware of what he was doing. Generally, however, instead of being excited he was dizzy and stupid. He suffered from intense