Page:Treatise on poisons in relation to medical jurisprudence, physiology, and the practice of physic (IA treatiseonpoison00chriuoft).pdf/748

 *sistance. He died on the close-stool rather unexpectedly. I have unfortunately lost the original notes I had of this case, and have forgotten whether any narcotic symptoms were present at first; but my impression is that they were present, though in a slight degree only. Most of the previous particulars were communicated to me by the late Dr. Mackintosh. The stomach, duodenum, ileum, colon, and rectum were found after death enormously inflamed, ulcerated, and here and there almost gangrenous.—In this instance some of the corrosive sublimate must have been decomposed by the laudanum, and an insoluble meconate of mercury formed. But the quantity thus decomposed could have been but a small proportion of the whole,—as was indeed proved by the extensive ravages actually committed in the whole alimentary canal. I conceive, therefore, that there is no other way of accounting for the slight apparent effects of the corrosive sublimate, at the commencement particularly, than by supposing that the narcotic operation of the opium veiled or actually retarded the irritant action of the corrosive sublimate.

6. Poisoning with Opium and Belladonna.—A lady, who used a compound infusion of opium and belladonna as a wash for an eruption in the vulva, took it into her head one day to use the wash as an injection; and actually received three successive injections, containing each the active matter of a scruple of opium and half an ounce of belladonna leaves. Fortunately none of the three was retained above a few minutes, except the last, which was not discharged for ten minutes. In less than an hour, she was found in bed in a deep sleep, but the true cause was not suspected till three hours later. She was then completely insensible and motionless, with the face pale, the pupils excessively dilated and not contractile, the pulse frequent and small, and the breathing hurried. After the use of purgative injections, blood-letting, leeches to the head, and sinapisms to the legs, she began in five hours to show some sign of returning consciousness, which improved after a fit of vomiting. When thoroughly roused, her vision continued dim, the pupils excessively dilated, and the ideas somewhat confused. For three days the pulse continued frequent, and the pupils somewhat dilated. Here the opium seems to have prevented the delirium usually induced by belladonna in the early stage, while on the other hand the belladonna prevented the usual effect of opium on the pupils, and actually produced the opposite action.

7. In the following cases, the active poisons to which the individuals were exposed were so numerous, that it is impossible to say which or how many of them occasioned the symptoms. A colour-maker was superintending a process in which cobalt, arsenic, mercury, sal-ammoniac, and nitric acid were subjected to heat in a mattrass, when the mattrass suddenly gave way, and a dense vapour was instantly discharged. The manufacturer, before he could escape, fell down insensible; and though speedily removed, he died in no long time, affected with enormous swelling of the abdomen. A