Corrosive sublimate

“ It appears from some experiments by Schlöpfer that the fluid preparations act rapidly through the lining membrane of the air-passages. Six grains of corrosive sublimate in solution will thus kill a rabbit in five minutes. [966] But the effects of mercury through this channel are much better exemplified when its preparations are inhaled in the form of vapour. Corrosive sublimate when incautiously sublimed in chemical experiments has been known to cause serious effects. ”

“ In preparing corrosive sublimate, as well as calomel, by the common process, the solution of the mercury is usually made in an iron pot, set in a furnace under a chimney, to carry off the fumes; and the sublimation is conducted in an earthen alembic placed in a sand bath, or in an iron pot, covered with a semi-spherical earthen head. Corrosive sublimate1055 may also be made by the direct solution of mercuric oxide in hydrochloric acid, or by bringing its constituents together in the state of vapour. ”

“ It is probable that all the compounds formed by corrosive sublimate with animal and vegetable substances are feebly poisonous, or at least very much inferior in activity to corrosive sublimate itself. ”

“ The sublimate rises in vapour, and encrusts the globular glass capital with a white mass of small prismatic needles. Its specific gravity is 5·14. Its taste is acrid, stypto-metallic, and exceedingly unpleasant. It is soluble in 20 parts of water, at the ordinary temperature, and in its own weight of boiling water. It dissolves in 21⁄2 times its weight of cold alcohol. It is a very deadly poison. Raw white of egg swallowed in profusion, is the best antidote. A solution of corrosive sublimate has been long employed for preserving soft anatomical preparations. ”

“ Thus, though the newly added Mercury becomes invisible by trituration, and seems actually combined with the Corrosive Sublimate, yet the union is not intimate. There is only an interposition of parts, but no true dissolution of the newly added Mercury by the super-abundant Acid of the Corrosive Sublimate. For this reason the mixture must be sublimed; and by this sublimation only is the true union effected. Nor is one single sublimation sufficient: no less than three are necessary to deprive the Sublimate of the corrosive quality which renders it poisonous. ”

“ Corrosive sublimate is incompatible with any ordinary soap mass, and this incompatibility includes not only other soluble mercurial salts, but also almost all the mineral antiseptics, such as zinc chloride, copper sulphate, iron salts. Some of the preparations of arsenic may, however, be incorporated with soap without decomposition.
Such being the chemical facts, we must admit that no reliance can be placed in corrosive sublimate soaps as germicide agents. ”

“ P. Hoglan has made experiments toward ascertaining whether calomel is liable to decomposition in the human system, with the production of corrosive sublimate. He has found that calomel may be slowly decomposed and corrosive sublimate formed by the action of water at the temperature of the body, and that the change is accelerated by the presence of citric acid, sodium chloride, or sugar. ”

“ Most of the specimens that have not been treated by the above method would not suffer from a short immersion in spirit containing the corrosive sublimate; but in cases where it is considered inexpedient to do this, the same liquid may be applied to them by means of a soft brush. ”

“ No contractions have been produced in animals killed by corrosive sublimate, nor in those which have been starved to death: but a very slight motion can be made to appear in those killed by opium, the electric shock, or azotic gas. ”

“ For on account of the solubility of corrosive sublimate, the facility with which it is decomposed by the secretions or accidental contents of the stomach, and the violence and frequency of the vomiting, this poison is peculiarly liable to be prevented from exerting its corrosive action on the membranes. Hence it is that proper chemical corrosion of the coats of the stomach is seldom witnessed in man. ”

“ A small quantity of tin, alloyed with silver, destroys its ductility. The best method of separating these two metals, is to laminate the alloy into thin plates, and distil them along with corrosive sublimate. The bichloride of tin comes over in vapours, and condenses in the receiver. Silver and lead, when combined, are separated by heat alone in the process of cupellation, as described in the article Assay, and in the reduction of silver ores. ”

“ Half a grain of the muriate of ammonia is added to increase the solubility of the mercurial salt. Applied externally to the unbroken skin, corrosive sublimate has caused death in several cases, the symptoms being almost identical with those which follow the entrance of the poison into the stomach. Toxic symptoms have followed intra-uterine or vaginal injections of solution of perchloride of mercury, also when it has been used to wash out abscess cavities. Acute poisoning, in some cases fatal, has resulted from the external application of corrosive sublimate to ulcers and tumours. ”

“ Three or four times the bulk of fluid should be used. It requires changing at the end of twenty-four hours, and again at the end of the first week.
Saturated aqueous solution of corrosive sublimate is one of the most convenient hardening reagents for small pieces of delicate tissue, e.g., embryos. It hardens them in a few days. When they are sufficiently hardened the mercurial salt should be removed by washing first in methylated spirit for a few hours and then in running water. ”

“ If on filtering the solution, acidulating it with dilute nitric acid, and testing it with silver nitrate, a cloudy white precipitate be formed, which is insoluble in excess of the precipitant, and in nitric acid, but soluble in ammonia water, and blackened by lengthened exposure to light, corrosive sublimate is shown to be present in the substance examined. Calomel, the only compound of mercury with chlorine besides corrosive sublimate, is an insoluble powder, which could not, therefore, be found in the filtered liquid. ”

“ Take of corrosive sublimate 2 drachms, spirits of wine 8 oz.; rub them well together in a mortar until the sublimate is dissolved; then add half a pint of spirits of turpentine This is an effectual destroyer of bugs; but, being a strong poison, great care should be taken in using it. ”

“ Mercury combined with spirit of salt forms a singular body; a metalline salt which shoots into long crystals, pointed like daggers. This salt is volatile, and sublimes easily without decomposition. It is moreover the most violent of all the corrosives hitherto discovered by Chymistry. It is called Corrosive Sublimate, because it must absolutely be sublimed to make the combination perfect. There are several ways of doing this: but the operation will never fail, if the Mercury be rarefied into vapours, and meet with the marine acid in a similar state. ”

“ In this variety sal-ammoniac and corrosive sublimate, equal parts, are dissolved in nitric acid, and a solution of gold made with this menstruum; after slight concentration the liquid is applied to the surface of silver, which immediately becomes black, but on being heated exhibits a rich gilded surface. ”

“ As every preparation of mercury, in proportion to its acrimony, has a greater tendency to act upon the surface, and less to affect the salivary glands, it is not 141surprising that corrosive sublimate should at length have been proposed.
The violence with which corrosive sublimate acts, has always been a sufficient reason to prevent its being thrown in, either in large quantities, or in substance. Of late years, however, a weak solution in ardent spirits has been recommended as an efficacious remedy, and often used with success. ”

“ Soon the gold scale rises in blisters; the plates are then removed from the fire and scraped. Those parts of the plates that have not yielded up their gold must be re-treated and fired until they do so. All these scales of gold are then collected in a porcelain dish, the base metals are dissolved out with nitric acid, and the gold is then smelted. Corrosive sublimate should be placed in the crucible as long as any blue flame is seen to come from it. ”

“ The sulphurets of mercury, like the metal, are not possessed of any deleterious action on the animal body. Orfila found that half an ounce of the sulphuret, formed in a solution of corrosive sublimate by sulphuretted-hydrogen, and half an ounce or six drachms of cinnabar, had no effect whatever on dogs. ”

“ When the pain is not unbearable, dressings made by soaking thick sheets of absorbent cotton in hot solution of corrosive sublimate (1 to 1,000 as directed under Boils, p. 161) should be applied and covered by oil silk or rubber cloth and bandage. They are preferable to poultices as being better germ destroyers, but are not so comfortable. When the dead tissue comes away and the carbuncle presents a red, raw surface, it should be washed twice a day in the 1 to 1,000 corrosive-sublimate solution, dusted with pure boric acid, and covered with clean, dry absorbent cotton and bandage. ”

“ It is largely used in the laboratory as a source of sulphuretted hydrogen. The hydrated sulphide is a black, insoluble substance, rapidly decomposed by exposure to the air. Proposed by Mialhe as an antidote to the salts of arsenic, antimony, bismuth, lead, mercury, silver, and tin, and to arsenious acid; more especially to white arsenic and corrosive sublimate. A gargle containing a little hydrated sulphide of iron will instantly remove the metallic taste caused by putting a little corrosive sublimate into the mouth. ”

“ The attention of toxicologists in their physiological researches has been chiefly turned to the more active preparations of mercury, and especially to corrosive sublimate, when given in such quantity as to prove fatal in a few days at farthest. ”

“ That the corrosive sublimate of mercury is actually decomposed by the vegetable principles of the bark is sufficiently evident, but it would seem that the oxide thus developed, and recombined with vegetable extractive, is a very active mercurial, especially with respect to its alterative powers. The same observation will, to a certain extent, apply to the results of its decomposition by other agents; the fixed alkalies have been found by actual experiment to be incapable of disarming this salt of its virulence, because, as Orfila has stated, the oxide liberated is, in itself, an active poison. ”

“ Eventually he found that bichloride of mercury, or corrosive sublimate, as it is commonly called, gave the best results, and, without revealing the nature of the process, he submitted a block of oak impregnated with that substance to the admiralty in 1828. It was placed in the ‘fungus pit’ at Woolwich, where it remained for three years exposed to all the conditions favourable to decay. ”

“ But this is a defect of little consequence; for the only other soluble salts of mercury ever met with in the arts, namely, the nitrate, acetate, and cyanide, are too rare to be the source of any material fallacy; and are besides all equally poisonous with corrosive sublimate.
Process by Liquid Tests.—The process by liquid reagents consists in the application of several tests to separate portions of the solution. The tests which appear to me the most satisfactory are hydrosulphuric acid gas, hydriodate of potass, protochloride of tin, and nitrate of silver. ”

“ CHAPTER XVII. MERCURY AND ITS COMPOUNDS. Of the preparations of mercury, corrosive sublimate is the most important to the toxicologist; for although they all possess in a greater or less degree poisonous properties, yet the instances in which the other compounds have been used to destroy life are extremely rare. The treatment in all cases must be the same. It is worthy of remark that mercury, whilst in the metallic state, is destitute of injurious properties, but if oxidized or otherwise rendered fit for absorption, it may give rise to dangerous symptoms. ”

“ Calomel is frequently contaminated with small quantities of corrosive sublimate, which may be detected by digesting a little in alcohol, decanting the clear portion, and testing it with a drop or two of potassium hydrate, when a reddish precipitate will be formed if any mercuric chloride be present. It is pulverulent, whitish, and sublimes entirely by heat. It becomes black on the addition of potassium hydrate, then, heat being applied, it runs into globules of mercury. ”

“ Whatever may be the real state of the fact as to the alleged power of arsenic to preserve from decay the bodies of those poisoned with it, all authors agree that corrosive sublimate possesses no such property. 341Yet it is well known to be a good antiseptic, when applied topically. The experiments of Klanck, noticed under the head of Arsenic, prove that corrosive sublimate at all events does not retard putrefaction in the bodies of those poisoned with it; and Augustin in his analysis of Klanck’s researches infers that it even promotes decay. ”

“ By means of mercury a fulminating powder is made, which, when struck with a hammer on an anvil or flat iron, such as is used by laundresses, explodes with a stunning and disagreeable report, and with such force 177as to indent both the anvil and the hammer. Four or five grains are as much of this powder as ought to be used for such experiments. Its force is much greater than that of gunpowder, but does not extend so far. Hence it is a substance which might be rendered of great use in the blasting of rocks.
Corrosive sublimate is an extremely poisonous preparation from mercury. ”

“ A very small quantity of the sulphate will prove fatal; for, as already noticed, Drouard found that six grains killed a dog in half an hour.
The symptoms caused by the soluble salts of copper in man are, in a general point of view, the same with those caused by arsenic and corrosive sublimate. But there are likewise some peculiarities. According to the cases related by Orfila in his Toxicology, the first symptom is violent headache, then vomiting and cutting pains in the bowels, and afterwards cramps in the legs and pains in the thighs. ”