Some attention has been given in this laboratory to a recently proposed method of combating mercuric chlorid poisoning. Hall1 suggests for this purpose a reversal of Mayer's reaction for the precipitation of alkaloids. These substances, as is well known, form insoluble compounds with mercuric potassium iodid. Wishing to render mercury insoluble in the body, Hall proposes the employment of an alkaloid dissolved in a potassium iodid solution, and has selected quinin as comparatively harmless and readily obtainable. His solution is in the following proportions:
This forms a precipitate with mercuric chlorid in dilute acids or alkaline carbonates, and should therefore compare favorably with the ordinary antidotes now given into the alimentary canal.
Greatest interest, however, attaches to its parenteral administration in the hope of fixing the mercury which has already reached the blood and tissues. This I have attempted, but with quite negative results. In like manner Kunkel2 once attempted to cure