THE POISONOUS PROPERTIES OF NITRATE OF SILVER, AND A RECENT CASE OF
POISONING WITH THE SAME.

[Footnote: Read before the Medico Legal Society, April 5, 1883.]

By HENRY A. MOTT, JR., Ph.D., etc.


Of the various salts of silver, the nitrate, both crystallized and in
sticks (lunar caustic, _Lapis infernalis_), is the only one interesting
to the toxicologist.

This salt is an article of commerce, and is used technically and
medicinally.

Its extensive employment for marking linen, in the preparation of
various hair dyes (Eau de Perse, d'Egypte, de Chiene, d'Afrique), in the
photographer's laboratory, etc., affords ample opportunity to use the
same for poisoning purposes.

Nitrate of silver possesses an acrid metallic taste and acts as a
violent poison.

When injected into a vein of an animal, even in small quantities, the
symptoms produced are dyspnoea,[1] choking, spasms of the limbs and then
of the trunk, signs of vertigo, consisting of inability to stand erect