PSYCHOSES RESULTING FROM COAL GAS ASPHYXIATION.

Abstract

For the past ten years at least, reports of cases of psychoses from coal gas poisoning are few. They are frequent enough, however, to demonstrate an apparent relation of cause and effect. Greidenberg¹reports 3 cases. The first patient, a woman of 58, whose symptoms were headache, vomiting, apathy, refusal of food, dysentery and, finally, death. The symptoms were thought to be of such a nature as to warrant a diagnosis of acute dementia. The second patient was also a woman who did not actually lose consciousness, the most prominent symptom being whining. apathy and weakness of memory. Recovery supervened after four months. The third was the case of a man of 45 who, in earlier life, had been intemperate. Ten days after asphyxiation he became forgetful, rambling, restless, excitable, sleepless and apathetic. His articulation was indistinct; he gave incorrect answers to simple questions and made incorrect statements. Urine