CASE REPORTS 135 A CASE OF NITROBENZENE POISONING*

quers, indelible inks, cheap perfumes, and a variety of other things. It is toxic to man by ingestion, direct contact, or inhalation or a combination of any of these avenues. Sollmann15 states that a dose of as little as one gram may be fatal. The symptoms and signs of poisoning are nausea, vomiting, prostration, intense gray blue cyanosis, convulsions, and coma (Sollmann). As with other benzene derivatives, there is a direct toxic effect on the blood with rapid and intensive destruction followed in cases of recovery by active regeneration. In view of the widespread use of substances containing this agent, cases of poisoning are probably more common than is generally believed. However, most of these cases are evidently mild and are probably diagnosed as acute indiges-tion or other functional upset. Recovery in these cases is rapid with sympto-matic therapy. A moderate number of cases of more severe poisonings, either accidental or suicidal, have been reported in the literature. In most of these, the nitrobenzene has been taken orally. Spinner16 reported 16 cases in women by whom the drug was used orally as an abortifacient in doses of 15 to 100 grams