Carboneum hydrogenisatum. Carburetted hydrogen, Ethene, Olefiant gas, C2H4 . This gas is sparingly soluble in water, but considerably soluble in alcohol.

Authorities. [To the proving of Sir Humphrey Davy are added some selected cases of poisoning by illuminating gas ; this latter gas is of complex and somewhat variable composition, containing marsh gas, olefiant gas, hydrogen, carbonous oxide, nitrogen, vapors of volatile hydrocarbons, and vapor of carbonic sulphide; it thus occupies a position between carbonous oxide and carbonic sulphide; the cases here collected possess sufficient interest to justify their insertion, though obtained from such a variable source.]

1 , Sir H. Davy, from Paris's Life of Davy (Lond. Med. Gaz., 7, 563), inhaled the pure gas from a bag; 2 , Sedillot, Gaz. de Strast., 1845 (S. J. Suppl., vol. 4), poisoning by illuminating gas; 3 , Seitz, Deutsch. Kl., 1852 (S. J., 76, p. 187), ibid.; 4 , Gærtner, Wurt. Corr. Bl., 1853 (S. J., 79, p. 288), ibid.; 5 , Cless, Wurt. Corr. Bl., 1854 (S. J., 86, p. 34), ibid.; 6 , Jaushet, L'Union, 1857 (S. J., 95, p. 76), suffocated by coal damp; 7 , Otho, Gaz. Sarda., 1858 (S. J., 98, 171), poisoning by illuminating gas; 8 , Leopold, V. f. Ger. Med., 1858 (S. J., 100, 293), ibid.; 9 , Mayer, Om. Schr. f. Geburt, 1858 (S. J., 104, 189), poisoning of two pregnant women by illuminating gas; 10 , Schumacher, Henke Zeit., 1862 (S. J., 113, p. 292), poisoning by il luminating gas; 11 , Sieveking, Lancet, 1869, ibid.; 12 , Wallichs, Deutsche Klin., 1869 (S. J., 151, 273), ibid.; 13 , De Chaumont, Lancet, 1873, poisoning by coal gas; 14 , William Taylor, M.D., Monograph on poisoning by coal gas, Edinb., 1874; 15 , Tourdes (six cases, five fatal) from Taylor's work; 16 , Maclagan, cases from Taylor's work.

MIND

Emotional.
An extraordinary sensation of contentment, so that life seems exalted; all his thoughts appear in a moment as if seen in an inner mirror, 4.
She occasionally gave loud cries, 4.
Only replied by monosyllables, 15.
Intellectual.
Answers questions slowly but correctly, 5.
Some confusion of mind, 16.
Ideas confused for forty-eight hours, 15.
Intellectual faculties a blank, 15.
Complete loss of sensibility, 6.
Insensibility, 13. [10.]
Lost all power of perceiving external things, and had no distinct sensation except that of a terrible oppression on the chest, 1.
Loss of consciousness, 5, 10.
Complete loss of consciousness, 4.
Consciousness completely lost, 15.
Completely unconscious, 7.
Fell unconscious to the ground, 2.
Suddenly fell down unconscious, 7.
Fell heavily on the floor, yet the shock of the concussion did not rouse her to consciousness; but when the room was broken into, she heard the first words that were pronounced, and recognized one of the doctors who came to her help, 15.
Lying on back, unconscious, mouth widely open, and breathing audible, with a subdued stertor, 14.
Stupefaction, 5, 8. [20.]
Coma, 5.
Deep coma, 12.
Deeply comatose, 14.
Entirely comatose, 16.

HEAD

Confusion and Vertigo.
Confusion of the head continues a long time, 4.
Vertigo, 4, 8, 9, 10.
After making a few steps into the open air, his head became giddy, his knees trembled, and he had just sufficient power to throw himself on the grass, 1.
Slight giddiness, 1.
Extreme giddiness, 13.
The giddiness returned with such violence as to oblige him to lie on the bed; it was accompanied with nausea, loss of memory, and deficient sensation (after two hours and a half), 1.
General Head. [30.]
Heaviness of the head, 10.
Head heavy and exceedingly painful (second day), 6.
Pain in head, 1.
Pain and pressure in the head, 10.
Headache, 5.
Great headache, 13.
Severe pressure in the brain, 4.
Forehead.
Frontal headache, 4.
Excruciating pain in forehead and between eyes (after four hours), 1.

EYE

Eyes sunken, 7. [40.]
Eyes distorted, 4.
Lids.
Eyes half closed, 14.
Conjunctiva.
Conjunctiva red, 3.
Conjunctivæ slightly injected, 15.
Ball.
The eyeballs oscillated from side to side, with a lateral, or perhaps obliquely lateral motion; this rolling was as nearly as possible synchronous with the breathing; it was continuous and simultaneous, both eyes moving in the same direction at the same time. It was uninfluenced by the presence or absence of light, and was unvarying in its regularity, whether the eyelids were open or closed. No individual symptom was more remarkable than the steady and extreme oscillation of the eyeballs. These traversed laterally the extreme area of motion, as if the patient were anxiously looking as far as he could to the right, then as far as he could to the left; and neither light nor darkness, irritation nor repose, nor the internal conditions which governed the varying sensibility of the pupils, seemed in any way to modify the constancy of this motion, or relieve the monotony of its rhythm. Even when once or twice we thought that, by means of the active stimuli employed, we awakened a slight response, it only took the character of a groan, together with a momentary half-knowing look. The eyeballs never rested, 14.
Pupil.
Pupils dilated, insensible to light, 3.
Pupils widely dilated, insensible, 5.
Pupils contracted, 15.
Pupils contracted, insensible, 4. [50.]
Pupils insensible and partially dilated, 14.
Vision.
Dark bodies moving before the eyes (second day), 6.

EAR

Roaring in the ears (second day), 6.

FACE

Staring look, 5.
Had quite the expression of being in a profound slumber, the mouth being relaxed, hanging down, and the saliva overflowing it, 14.
Face soiled with blackish purulent matter, which was spurted about him, 15.
Face scarlet, 4.
Face red, turgid, 5.
Face bluish, 10.
Face cyanotic, 12. [60.]
Pale face, 5, 6, 9, 15.
Face pale, sunken, with blue eyelids and lips, 10.
Face, neck, and upper part of forehead congested and livid, the purple of the forehead forming a broad band, which deepened over the eyebrows, and shaded off towards the scalp, which was natural in color, 14.
Face drawn, wrinkled, 7.
Face distorted in trismus, 7.
Features distorted, and mouth covered with foam, 15.
Lips.
Lips blue, 9.
Cheeks.
Cheeks puffy, 4.
The teeth being kept apart by a wooden gag in one side of the mouth, the opposite cheek, on the free side of the mouth, was flaccid, and flapped loosely with every breath, 14.
First complaint was of pain in her cheek and the right side of head, 15.
Chin. [70.]
Jaws tightly clenched, 12.
Jaws firmly closed, the one against the other; deglutition impossible, 15.
Teeth firmly clenched, 14.
When the current of air reached the sleeper, his teeth became firmly clenched, and his lips tightly closed over them. The breathing was then less full than formerly, and immediate suffocation seemed inevitable, 14.
On removing some tenacious mucus from the depending side of the mouth, his teeth snapped my finger, and remained closed for about a minute. They afterwards relaxed and opened, 14.
Trismus, 10.

MOUTH. [80.]

Foam from the mouth, 10.
Bloody froth from the mouth, 5.
Breath had a faint, sickly, stomachy fetor, 14.
Yellow-tinged froth collected at the mouth, 14.

THROAT

Every time the feather was introduced in tickling the fauces, it came away loaded with glairy, pinkish, sero-sanguineous discharge, the source of which seemed almost inexhaustible, 14.

STOMACH

Nausea and Vomiting.
Nausea, 8.
Nausea for everything, 4.
Inclination to vomit, 9.
Vomiting, 5, 8, 10.
Vomited once, 15. [90.]
Violently sick, 13.
Stomach.
Digestion is impaired, 4.
Violent cramps in the stomach, 4.

STOOL

Involuntary passage of stool and urine, 3, 15.
Thin rice-water stools, for some time after the attack, 4.
Stool frequent, consisting of thin fæces, mixed with dark blood and mucus, 4 . [This character of the evacuations is doubtless dependent upon the extensive ecchymosis of the intestinal canal.]

RESPIRATORY ORGANS

Voice.
Voice very feeble and indistinct, 1.
Cough.
Slight cough, which did not last long, 15.
Violent paroxysms of cough, 9.
Respiration.
Mucous râles at bases of lungs, 14. [100.]
Stertorous breathing, 15.
Breath smelling strongly of gas, 16.
Breath strongly impregnated with gas, 14.
Respiration accelerated, 5.
Respiration rapid, rattling, 5.
Breathing quick, and interrupted by profound inspirations and sighs, 15.
Respiration frequent, superficial, 9.
Respirations 48 (second day), 14.
Respirations 30-36, 16.
Respirations 28 (seven hours after being found), 14. [110.]
Respiration 16-18 per minute (two hours after being found), 14.
Respiration irregular, stertorous, intermitting, 3.
Respiration short, stertorous, slow, 7.
Breathing feeble and irregular, 15.
Respiration very weak, at long intervals, 4.
Breathing labored, fluctuating, interrupted, 14.
Difficult respiration, 12.
Dyspnœa, 8.
Sensation of suffocation, 4, 13.
Threatened suffocation, 1. [120.]
After bleeding, the breathing appeared easier, the patient made a movement with the head, and executed a profound inspiration, which he followed by a noisy inspiration; soon the breathing became embarrassed; mucous râles were heard, 15.

CHEST

Congestion of the lungs, 6.
Sounds of the heart scarcely audible on account of mucous râles in the chest, 5.
Sort of numbness and loss of feeling in chest and about pectoral muscles, 1.
Oppression of the chest, 44.
Transient pains in chest and extremities, 1.
Very violent tearing pains in the thorax, 4.

HEART AND PULSE

Heart's Action.
Beating of the heart scarcely noticed, 3.
Pulse.
Pulse strong, rapid, and regular, 6.
Pulse much quicker and more feeble, 1. [130.]
Pulse threadlike, and beating with excessive quickness, 1.
Pulse small, rapid, 12.
Pulse 96 (seven hours after being found), 14.
Pulse 100, 11.
Pulse 112, small and weak (second day), 14.
Pulse 120, and very feeble, 1, 16.
Pulse small, 120, 15.
Pulse small and weak, 95, 3.
Pulse 78, soft (six hours after being found), 14.
Pulse 72-75, less regular, intermissions occasionally as often as 1 in 4 (four hours after being found), 14. [140.]
Pulse steady, but feeble (two hours after being found), 14.
Pulse and respiration extremely weak, 10.
Pulse scarcely perceptible, 7.
Pulse 60, scarcely perceptible, 4.
Pulse almost imperceptible, 14.
Pulse imperceptible, 15.

NECK AND BACK

Violent spasms of the extensors of the back, 5.

EXTREMITIES IN GENERAL

Extremities flexed, 4.
Extremities relaxed, 7.
All the members in a state of resolution, as if paralyzed, 15. [150.]
Loss of motion of the limbs, 12.
Spasmodic stretching and trembling of the limbs, 10.
Weariness of the limbs, 8.
Limbs felt paralyzed; they staggered (two cases), 11.

SUPERIOR EXTREMITIES

Arms flexed on elbow-joints, 5.
The arms are flexed on elbows; can only be stretched out by force, 4.
Arms semi-flexed in front of the body; hands resting on abdomen, 14.
Trembling of the hands, 11.
Fingers constantly flexed, 4.

GENERAL SYMPTOMS

Objective.
Whole appearance betokened speedy dissolution, reminding one very much of the appearances presented when a patient is dying from the effects of an overdose of chloroform, 14. [160.]
The symptoms throughout bore a strong resemblance to those of apoplexy and even the copious perspirations had a like fatal import, 14.
One very marked characteristic was the rapidly fluctuating nature of the conditions which presented themselves. These were alternately encouraging and discouraging, the system at one time striving vigorously to work off the poisonous load, and anon sinking exhausted with the effort. Thus the periods of hopeful tranquillity, when the pulse was steady and the breathing regular, were always followed by intervals of shorter duration when all these functions were deranged, 14.
Remained immovable, lying on her back, 15.
Remained immovable, lying on her back; at 4 o'clock the immobility was less complete, but she seized objects with the left hand; could not move the right hand nor leg, 15.
Lying as if dead, cold and pale, as soon as the window was opened, violent convulsions set in, 3.
On venesection, the blood, of a dark-red color, dribbled at first, but at length jetted freely, 15.
Trembling, 2.
Occasional but slight convulsive indications, which became more frequent and perceptible, affecting the trunk and limbs only, not the head or face, 14.
Weakness, 16.
Excessive weakness, 1, 5. [170.]
Considerably weakened, and strength only came back slowly, 15.
Movements weak and incomplete, 15.
General exhaustion continues several days, 4.
At last she was not able to rise on account of prostration and weakness, 9.
Loss of muscular power, 10.
Momentary loss of voluntary power, 1.
During night, became agitated and feverish, tormented with thirst and with painful dreams, 15.
Anæsthesia, 8.
Skin insensible, 4.
Skin completely insensible, 6.

SKIN

Skin white, veins seem dark-colored, 4.
Skin livid, 11.
Painful tingling sensation in right leg, 15.

SLEEP AND DREAMS

Fell asleep, and from that moment lost all consciousness for forty hours; only remembered a sensation as of a painful dream, 15.
Sleep prolonged and very deep, interrupted by cramps in the jaws and in the toes, 4.

FEVER

Chilliness.
Cold skin, 5.
Body cold and feebly rigid, 14.
Skin icy cold, 15.
Skin generally cold, excepting the head, 3. [190.]
Chilliness, 10.
Shaking chill, 5.
Shaking with chill, 9.
Violent attacks of chill, 5.
Limbs cold, 2.
Extremities cold, 5.
Extremities icy cold, 11.
Sweat.
Sweating copiously; sweat smells of gas, 14.
Skin covered with profuse clammy sweat, 7.
Great drops of sweat over the whole body, especially on the head, 4.

Carboneum Hydrogenisatum