Part 10 (1/2)

The stomach-pump or emetics must be employed. If the effects are not very severe they will generally cease spontaneously after a time. The odor would lead to the detection of the poison.

FUNGI.-According to Berkeley there are now upwards of 2380 recognised species of British fungi, a considerable proportion of which are doubtless poisonous. But the type of the cla.s.s may be taken as the Amanita muscaria. This is an autumn fungus of an orange-red color, and is used among the Siberian tribes, especially the Koraks, as an intoxicating agent, and produces symptoms somewhat similar to those of alcohol.

The Agaricus campestris and esculentus are those most frequently used as articles of food, on account of their savory properties; but even these are indigestible. They occasionally produce diarrha, with a pruriginous or exanthematous rash in dyspeptics; and should only be eaten in great moderation.

_Ketchup_, the juice of the mushroom flavored with salt and spices, has produced faintness, nausea and colic, lasting for some hours.

There are some positive characters by which the wholesome fungi can be distinguished from the unwholesome. Moreover those which may be eaten with impunity by some individuals prove destructive to others. Thus, a French officer and his wife died from breakfasting off mushrooms which others in the house ate without inconvenience. As a general rule highly colored mushrooms, with an astringent styptic taste, a forbidding pungent odor, and which grow in dark and shady places, should be avoided.

The symptoms produced by poisonous fungi are not unfrequently those indicative of gastro-intestinal irritation, with a disordered condition of the nervous system, and considerable depression; but, again, they may act much more like pure narcotics. In treating these case, the stomach and intestines must be thoroughly emptied, and then the prominent symptoms are to be relieved according to their urgency.

CHAPTER XXV.

DELIRANTS.

NEUROTICS ACTING ON THE BRAIN AND PRODUCING DELIRIUM.

HYOSCYAMUS-BELLADONNA-STRAMONIUM-DATURA ALBA-NIGHTSHADE.

Most of these are not very important substances, as they have rarely been employed as poisons in this country. Serious symptoms have, however, resulted from their accidental use.

HENBANE (_Hyoscyamus niger_).-All parts of this plant are poisonous; but the seeds are more powerful than the root or leaves. In medicinal doses it is a feeble narcotic. It owes its powers to an alkaloid (_hyoscyamia_) it contains.

In very large doses henbane produces giddiness, flus.h.i.+ngs, excitement, and a sense of weight in the head; the limbs tremble, and there is general loss of power, the pupils get dilated, there is double vision, flas.h.i.+ng of light before the eyes, and great drowsiness. If vomiting supervene these symptoms generally pa.s.s off; otherwise we may find fierce delirium, loss of speech, complete loss of power over the limbs, cold sweats, and exhaustion.

In some instances, when the roots have been eaten by mistake for parsnips, the symptoms have been those of drunkenness and delirium. Dr.

Houlton states (_Lancet_, 6th July, 1844) that this error was committed one night at a monastery. The monks who partook of the roots had such hallucinations that the establishment resembled a lunatic asylum. They rang the bell for matins at midnight, and those who attended were unable to read, or they read that which was not in the book. In another reported case (_Edin. Med. and Surg. Journal_, p. 562, October, 1844), the roots were put into soup, of which nine persons partook. Although no unpleasant flavor was noticed at the time of eating, yet very shortly afterwards all complained of an acrid taste, nausea, indistinctness of vision, restlessness, delirium, and great somnolency, which continued some time.

The appearances found after death consist chiefly of great congestion of the venous system. The lungs and brain have especially been found loaded with dark-colored blood.

To prevent a fatal result from the use of henbane or others of this group, we must trust to stimulant emetics, as sulphate of zinc, and full doses of castor oil, so as to get rid of the offending substance.

_Test._-The only test for hyoscyamus is the botanical characters of the plant, when taken in substance, and its power (common to all in this group) of dilating the pupil.

ATROPA BELLADONNA (_Deadly Nightshade_).-Two other plants known under the name of Nightshade will hereafter be referred to. The Deadly Nightshade, now to be noticed, is indigenous, and grows in woods and gardens. The root, leaves, and berries are poisonous, this property being due to the presence of an alkaloidal principle-_Atropia_.

_Symptoms._-Dryness of the mouth and throat, thirst which nothing allays, nausea and vomiting, great dilatation of the pupils with indistinct or double vision, giddiness, palpitation of the heart, physical and mental depression, perversion of the sense of taste, and delirium followed by stupor, form the chief symptoms. They may set in within from half an hour to three or four hours of swallowing the poison. Sometimes strangury and b.l.o.o.d.y urine, a scarlatinal kind of rash upon the skin, a disposition to laugh and talk wildly, fanciful delusions, a rapid flow of ideas, and difficulty in walking, have been observed.

A large detachment of French soldiers, halting near Dresden, ate freely of the belladonna berries. Shortly afterwards they were seized with nausea, thirst, dryness of the throat, difficult deglut.i.tion, insensibility of the eye, great dilatation of the pupil, delirium, and coma. Many of the men died before a.s.sistance could be rendered to them.

_Post-mortem Appearances._-Congestion of the cerebral vessels, dilated pupils, red patches at different parts of the alimentary ca.n.a.l, and a dyed purple hue of the gastric mucous membrane, if the berries have been eaten, are the most common appearances.

_Treatment._-Stimulant emetics, castor oil, and animal charcoal are the remedies to trust to.

Dr. Taylor refers to one case in which a young man poisoned himself with two grains of _atropia_. He took the dose on going to bed, was heard to snore heavily during the night, and was found dead at seven o'clock in the morning.

As a means of diagnosing poisoning by belladonna it has been recommended to introduce a few drops of urine into the eye of an animal, to see if dilatation of the pupil takes place.