Page:Treatise on poisons in relation to medical jurisprudence, physiology, and the practice of physic (IA treatiseonpoison00chriuoft).pdf/668

 Æthusa cynapium. It has occasioned several accidents by reason of its resemblance to parsley,—from which, however, it is at once distinguished by the leaves being dark and glistening on their lower surface, and by the nauseous smell they emit when rubbed. It contains an alkaloid, which crystallizes in rhombic prisms, and is soluble in water and alcohol, but not in ether. It was discovered by Professor Ficinus of Dresden. Orfila found that six ounces of the juice, when retained in the stomach of a dog, by a ligature, caused convulsions and stupor, and death in an hour. Symptoms in Man.—Some interesting information on the characters and properties of this plant is contained in the Medical and Physical Journal. Among other cases the writer relates those of two ladies who ate a little of it in a sallad instead of parsley, and who were soon seized with nausea, vomiting, headache, giddiness, somnolency, pungent heat in the mouth, throat, and stomach, difficulty in swallowing and numbness of the limbs. Gmelin has related the case of a child, who died in eight hours in consequence of having eaten the æthusa. The symptoms were spasmodic pain in the stomach, swelling of the belly, lividity of the skin, and difficult breathing. In two children who recovered, the chief symptoms at the height of the poisoning were complete insensibility, dilated, insensible pupil, and staring of the eyes. In one of them there was also frequent vomiting, in the other convulsions. The treatment consisted in the administration of milk, sinapisms to the legs, and cold spunging with vinegar. CHAPTER XXXV. OF THE NARCOTIC RANUNCULACEÆ. The greater part of the poisons belonging to the Natural Family Ranunculaceæ are acrid only in their action, and have been already taken notice of among the irritants. Two only are yet known to possess narcotic properties, namely, monkshood, and black hellebore. The latter is a true narcotico-acrid. The former has till lately been always considered so; but its acrid properties seem doubtful or feeble, while its action on the nervous system is most intense. Of Poisoning with Monkshood.

Monkshood, the Aconitum napellus of botanists, is an active poison, and has commonly been considered a true narcotico-acrid. But its effects have been hitherto much misunderstood. It has been used for criminal purposes in Ireland; and in 1841, a woman, M'Conkey,