Thomson's Conspectus of the British pharmacopoeias.

  • Anthony Todd Thomson
Date:
1852
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Thomson's Conspectus of the British pharmacopoeias. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    201/248 page 173
    APPENDIX. No. II. ON POISONS. Poisons are substances of an animal, a vegetable, or a mineral nature, which produce effects deleterious to the animal economy when they are taken into the stomach in certain doses; and, in some instances, even when they are applied to the surface of the body. Many poisonous substances, however, are daily employed as medicines; and with the best results, when they are administered in proper doses, and with due precaution. Writers who professedly treat of poisons have arranged the substances which they regard as such, according to their effects on the animal eco- nomy; but as the following memoranda are intended merely as refer- ences from which the practitioner may refresh his memory when his as- sistance is suddenly required in cases of poisoning, the author conceives the alphabetical arrangement will be the most useful, and he has conse- quently adopted it. A similar reason has also induced him to place the English name as the title of each article.* ACETIC ACID. {Strong.) Symptoms. Great heat, and a sensation of burning pain in the stomach ; convulsions ; death. Morbid Appearances. The mouth and fauces brownish,—excoriated, and the lingual papillae enlarged. The oesophagus also lined with a brown adventitious membrane. The stomach of a livid hue towards the pylorus and black at the fundus. The vessels large and much injected. Antidotes. Magnesia ; soap in water ; after which the stomach should be emptied by the stomach-pump or an emetic. ACETATE OF LEAD. See under Carbonate of Lead. ACONITUM. See Monkshood. AGARIC. See Fungi. AMMONIA ; {Liquor Ammonice.) A corrosive mineral poison. Symptoms. Excoriations of the mouth and fauces ; sensation of burn- ing in the throat, chest, and stomach ; followed by vomiting and purging, the ejected matter being mixed with blood. When the do9e is large, the immediate feeling is that of strangulation, attended with convulsions and high delirium. If the result be fatal, it very quickly follows the administration of the poison. The inhalation of the ammo- nia by applying the solution to the nostrils is equally hazardous, and causes the same symptoms as when it is taken into the stomach. Morbid Appearances. Marks of strong inflammatory action in the oeso- phagus and cardiac portion of the stomach ; and in the bronchial tubes when the poison has been inhaled. Tests. The aqueous solution of ammonia is readily recognised by its * Many poisonous substances are purposely not noticed, because they are not likely to be employed as such ; and, consequently, they do not demand general attention.
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