of a like quantity of common table salt. If the mustard is not at hand, give two or three teaspoonfuls of powdered alum in syrup or molasses, and give freely of warm water to drink; or give 10 to 20 grains of sulphate of zinc (white vitriol), or 20 to 30 grains of ipecac, with 1 or 2 grains of tartar emetic, in a large cup of warm water, and repeat every ten minutes until three or four doses are given, unless free vomiting is sooner produced. After vomiting has taken place large draughts of warm water should be given, so that the vomiting will continue until the poisonous substances have been thoroughly evacuated, and then suitable antidotes should be given. If vomiting cannot be produced the stomach pump should be used. When it is known what particular kind of poison has been swallowed, then the proper antidote for that poison should be given; but when this cannot be ascertained, as is often the case, give freely of equal parts of calcined magnesia, pulverized charcoal, and sesquioxide of iron, in a sufficient quantity of water. This is a very harmless mixture and is likely to be of great benefit, as the ingredients, though very simple, are antidotes for the most common and active poisons. In case this mixture cannot be obtained, the stomach should be soothed and protected by the free administration of demulcent, mucilaginous, or oleaginous drinks, such as the whites of eggs, milk, mucilage of gum arabic, or slippery-elm bark, flaxseed tea, starch, wheat flour, or arrowroot mixed in water, linseed or olive oil, or melted butter or lard. Subsequently the bowels should be moved by some gentle laxative, as a tablespoonful or two of castor oil, or a teaspoonful of calcined magnesia; and pain or other evidence of inflammation must be relieved by the administration of a few drops of laudanum, and the repeated application of hot poultices, fomentations, and mustard plasters.
The following are the names of the substances that may give rise to poisoning, most commonly used, and their antidotes:
Mineral Acids—sulphuric Acid (Oil Of Vitriol), Nitric Acid (Aqua Fortis), Muriatic Acid (Spirits Of Salts).
—Symptoms: Acid, burning taste in the mouth, acute pain in the throat, stomach, and bowels; frequent vomiting, generally bloody; mouth and lips excoriated, shriveled, white or yellow; hiccough, copious stools, more or less bloody, with great tenderness in the abdomen; difficult breathing, irregular pulse, excessive thirst, while drink increases the pain and rarely remains in the stomach; frequent but vain efforts to urinate; cold sweats, altered countenance; convulsions, generally preceding death. Nitric acid causes yellow stains; sulphuric acid, black ones. Treatment: Mix calcined magnesia in milk or water to the consistence of cream, and give freely to drink a glassful every couple of minutes, if it can be swallowed. Common soap (hard or soft), chalk, whiting, or even mortar from the wall mixed in water may be given, until magnesia can be obtained. Promote vomiting by tickling the throat, if necessary, and when the poison is got rid of, flaxseed or slippery-elm tea, gruel, or other mild drinks. The inflammation which always follows needs good treatment to save the patient’s life.
Vegetable Acids—acetic, Citric, Oxalic, Tartaric.
—Symptoms: Intense burning pain of mouth, throat, and stomach; vomiting blood which is highly acid, violent purging, collapse, stupor, death.
Oxalic acid is frequently taken in {93} mistake for Epsom salts, to which in shops it often bears a strong resemblance. Treatment: Give chalk or magnesia in a large quantity of water, or large draughts of limewater. If these are not at hand, scrape the wall or ceiling, and give the scrapings mixed with water.
Prussic Or Hydrocyanic Acid—laurel Water, Cyanide Of Potassium, Bitter Almond Oil, Etc.
—Symptoms: In large doses almost invariably instantaneously fatal; when not immediately fatal, sudden loss of sense and control of the voluntary muscles. The odor of the poison generally noticeable on the breath. Treatment: Chlorine, in the form of chlorine water, in doses of from 1 to 4 fluidrachms, diluted. Weak solution of chloride lime of soda; water of ammonia (spirits of hartshorn), largely diluted, may be given, and the vapor of it cautiously inhaled. Cold affusion, and chloroform in half to teaspoonful doses in glycerine or mucilage, repeated every few minutes, until the symptoms are ameliorated. Artificial respiration.
Aconite—monkshood, Wolfsbane.
—Symptoms: Numbness and tingling in the mouth and throat, and afterwards in other portions of the body, with sore throat, pain over the stomach, and vomiting; dimness of vision, dizziness, great prostration, loss of sensibility, and delirium. Treatment: An emetic and then brandy in tablespoonful doses, in ice water, every half hour; spirits of ammonia in half-teaspoonful doses in like manner; the cold douche over the head and chest, warmth to the extremities, etc.
Alkalis And Their Salts—concentrated Lye, Wood-ash Lye, Caustic Potash, Ammonia, Hartshorn.
—Symptoms: Caustic, acrid taste, excessive heat in the throat, stomach, and intestines; vomiting of bloody matter, cold sweats, hiccough, purging of bloody stools. Treatment: The common vegetable acids. Common vinegar, being always at hand, is most frequently used. The fixed oils, as castor, flaxseed, almond, and olive oils form soaps with the alkalis and thus also destroy their caustic effect. They should be given in large quantity.
Antimony And Its Preparations—tartar Emetic, Antimonial Wine, Kerme’s Mineral.
—Symptoms: Faintness and nausea, soon followed by painful and continued vomiting, severe diarrhea, constriction and burning sensation in the throat, cramps, or spasmodic twitchings, with symptoms of nervous derangement, and great prostration of strength, often terminating in death. Treatment: If vomiting has not been produced, it should be effected by tickling the fauces, and administering copious draughts of warm water. Astringent infusions, such as of gall, oak bark, Peruvian bark, act as antidotes, and should be given promptly. Powdered yellow bark may be used until the infusion is prepared, or very strong green tea should be given. To stop the vomiting, should it continue, blister over the stomach by applying a cloth wet with strong spirits of hartshorn, and then sprinkle on one-eighth to one-fourth of a grain of morphia.
Arsenic And Its Preparations—ratsbane, Fowler’s Solution, Etc.
—Symptoms: Generally within an hour pain and heat are felt in the stomach, soon followed by vomiting, with a burning dryness of the throat and great thirst; the matters vomited are generally colored either green yellow, or brown, and are sometimes bloody. Diarrhea or dysentery ensues, while the pulse becomes small and rapid, yet irregular. Breathing much oppressed; difficulty in vomiting may occur, while cramps, convulsions, or even paralysis often precede death, which sometimes takes place within five or six hours after arsenic has been taken. Treatment: Give a prompt emetic, and then hydrate of peroxide of iron (recently prepared) in tablespoonful doses every 10 or 15 minutes until the urgent symptoms are relieved. In the absence of this, or while it is being prepared, give large draughts of new milk and raw eggs, limewater and oil, melted butter, magnesia in a large quantity of water, or even if nothing else is at hand, flour and water, always, however, giving an emetic the first thing, or causing vomiting by tickling the throat with a feather, etc. The inflammation of the stomach which follows must be treated by blisters, hot fomentations, mucilaginous drinks, and the like.
Belladonna, Or Deadly Nightshade.
—Symptoms: Dryness of the mouth and throat, great thirst, difficulty of swallowing, nausea, dimness, confusion or loss of vision, great enlargement of the pupils, dizziness, delirium, and coma. Treatment: There is no known antidote. Give a prompt emetic and then reliance must be placed on continual stimulation with brandy, whisky, etc., and to necessary artificial respiration. Opium and its preparations, as morphia, laudanum, etc., are thought by some to {94} counteract the effect of
