Neisser has made known a case of poisoning by
an ointment of pyrogallic acid, which at once shows that considerable
danger attends its use for this purpose. A man of strong constitution
was admitted into one of the wards of the Breslau Hospital to be
treated for general psoriasis. He appears to have been submitted to a
kind of experimental treatment in order to test the curative
properties of pyrogallic acid as compared with chrysarobine. He was
treated by friction with chrysarobine (in the form of a pomade of
alcoholic extract of rhubarb, containing one-twentieth) on the
one-half of the body, while the other half was treated in the same
manner by a pomade containing ten per cent. of pyrogallic acid. Six
hours after the application the patient had violent shivering with
vomiting and intense collapsus. Death occurred on the fourth day.
Experiments were at once undertaken on rabbits, and proved that this
catastrophe was due entirely to the pyrogallic acid pomade, and that
the chrysarobine was innocuous. In some instances the rabbit died
within two hours. It was also found that in the case of the patient in
the Breslau Hospital the pyrogallic acid had acted by its extreme
avidity for oxygen when in contact with alkaline fluids. The blood had
been affected, and the red corpuscles were destroyed and turned brown.
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