CHAPTER XX.

The fourth order of the irritant poisons contains a great number of genera derived from the vegetable kingdom, and at one time commonly arranged in a class by themselves under the title of Acrid Poisons. The order includes many plants of the natural families _Ranunculaceæ_, _Cucurbitaceæ_, and _Euphorbiaceæ_, and other plants scattered throughout the botanical system. It likewise comprehends a second group consisting of some acrid poisons from the animal kingdom, namely, cantharides, poisonous fishes, poisonous serpents, and animal matters become poisonous by disease or putrefaction. OF POISONING WITH THE VEGETABLE ACRIDS. The vegetable acrids are the most characteristic poisons of this order. They will not require many details, as they are seldom resorted to for criminal purposes, and their mode of action, their symptoms, and their morbid appearances are nearly the same in all. We are chiefly indebted to Professor Orfila for our knowledge of their _mode of action_. He has subjected them to two sets of experiments. In the first place, he introduced the poison in various doses into the stomach, sometimes tying the gullet, sometimes not: and, secondly, he applied the poison to the subcutaneous cellular tissue by thrusting it into a recent wound. In the former way he found that, unless the gullet was tied, the animal soon discharged the poison by vomiting, and generally recovered; but that, if the gullet was tied, death might be caused in no long time by moderate doses. The symptoms were seldom remarkable. Commonly efforts were made to vomit; frequently diarrhœa followed; then languor and listlessness; sometimes, though not always, expressions of pain; very rarely convulsions; and death generally took place during the first day, often within three, six, or eight hours. The appearances in the dead body were redness over the whole mucous coat of the stomach, at times remarkably vivid, often barely perceptible, and occasionally attended with ulcers; very often a similar state of the whole intestines, more especially of the rectum; and in some instances a slight increase of density, with diminished crepitation, in patches of the lungs. When the poison, on the other hand, was applied to a recent wound of the leg, the animal commonly whined more or less; great languor soon followed; and death took place on the first or second day, without convulsions or any other symptom of note. It was seldom that any morbid appearance could then be discovered in the bowels. But in every instance active inflammation was found in the wound, extending to the limb above it and even upwards on the trunk. Every part affected was gorged with blood and serum; and an eschar was never formed. The appearances in short were precisely those of diffuse inflammation of the cellular tissue, when it proves fatal in its early stage.[1402] Since these poisons do not appear to act more energetically through a wound than through the stomach, it has been generally inferred that they do not enter the blood, and consequently that the local impression they produce is conveyed to distant organs through the nerves. This inference is correct in regard to such species of the vegetable acrids as act in small doses. But the validity of the conclusion may be questioned when the poison acts only in large doses, as in the case with many of those now under consideration. For they cannot be applied to a wound over a surface equal to that of the stomach, and may therefore be more slowly absorbed in the former than in the latter situation. And, in point of fact, a few plants of the present order have been found to act through the medium of absorption, as soon as chemistry discovered their active principles, and thus enabled the physiologist to get rid of fallacy by using the poison in small quantity. This principle has been proved to be in some plants a peculiar resin, in others a peculiar extractive matter, in others an oil, in others an alkaloid, and in others a neutral crystalline matter. But in all there exists some principle or other in which are concentrated the poisonous properties of the plant. Some of these principles appear to act through the medium of the blood. There is no doubt, however, but many plants of the present order, as well as their active principles, have a totally different and very peculiar action. They produce violent spreading inflammation of the subcutaneous cellular tissue, and acute inflammation of the stomach and intestines, without entering the blood; and death is the consequence of a sympathy of remote organs with the parts directly injured. As to their forming a natural order of poisons, it is evident, that if a general view be taken of their properties, they are distinguished by obvious phenomena from the three orders hitherto noticed. But if their effects on man be alone taken into account, when of course their influence on the external surface of the body must be left out of view, nothing will be discovered to distinguish them from several of the metallic irritants. The _symptoms_ occasioned in man by the irritant poisons of the vegetable kingdom, are chiefly those indicating inflammation of the villous coat of the stomach and intestines. When taken in large doses, they excite vomiting soon after they are swallowed; by which means the patient’s life is often saved. But sometimes, like the mineral poisons that possess emetic properties, the vegetable acrids present a singular uncertainty in this respect: they may be retained without much inconvenience for some length of time. If this should happen, or if the dose be less, in which case vomiting may not be produced at all, or if only part of a large dose be discharged at an early period by vomiting,—the other phenomena they give rise to are sometimes fully developed. The most conspicuous symptom then is diarrhœa, more or less profuse. The diarrhœa and vomiting are commonly attended by twisting pain of the belly, at first remittent, but gradually more constant, as the inflammation becomes more and more strongly marked. Tension, fulness and tenderness of the belly, are then not unfrequent. The stools may assume all the characters of the discharges in natural inflammation of the intestinal mucous membrane, but an additional character worthy of notice is the appearance of fragments of leaves or flowers belonging to the plant which has been swallowed. At the same time there is generally excessive weakness. Sometimes, too, giddiness and a tendency to delirium have been observed. But the latter symptoms are rare: if they occurred frequently, it would be necessary to transfer any poison which produced them to the class of narcotico-acrids. The properties now mentioned have long ago attracted the attention of physicians, and led them to introduce many vegetable irritants into the materia medica. In fact they comprehended a great number of the most active, or, as they are technically called, drastic purgatives. Among others, elaterium, euphorbium, gamboge, colocynth, scammony, croton, jalap, savin, stavesacre, are of this description. The effect of most of them, however, is so violent and uncertain, that few are now much used except when combined with other milder laxatives. The _morbid appearances_ they leave in the dead body are the same with those noticed under the head of their mode of action,—more or less redness of the stomach, ulceration of its villous coat, redness of the intestines, and especially of the rectum and colon, which are often inflamed when the small intestines are not visibly affected. In the following account of the particular poisons of this order, a very cursory view will be taken of their physical and chemical properties. A knowledge of these properties will be best acquired from any author on the materia medica; and an account of them would be misplaced in a work which professes to describe only the leading objects of the medical jurist’s attention. A great number of genera might be arranged under the present head. But the following list comprehends all which require mention. _Euphorbia_, or spurge, the _ricinus_, or castor-oil tree, the _jatropha_, or cassava-plant, croton-oil, _elaterium_, or squirting cucumber, _colocynth_, or bitter-apple, _bryony_, or wild cucumber, _ranunculus_, or buttercup, _anemone_, _stavesacre_, _celandine_, _marsh marigold_, _mezereon_, _spurge-laurel_, _savine_, _daffodil_, _jalap_, _manchineel_, _cuckow-pint_. The first plants to be noticed belong to the natural order _Euphorbiaceæ_, namely, the euphorbia, ricinus, jatropha, and croton. _Of Poisoning with Euphorbium._ _Euphorbium_ is the inspissated juice of various plants of the genus euphorbia or spurge, but is principally procured from the _E. officinarum_, a species that abounds in Northern Africa. It contains a variety of principles; but its chief ingredient is a resin, in which its active properties reside. It has been analysed by Braconnot, Pelletier, Brandes,[1403] and Drs. Buchner and Herberger. According to Brandes the resin forms above 44 per cent. of the crude drug, and is so very acrid, that the eyelid is inflamed by rubbing it with the finger which has touched the resin, even although it be subsequently washed with an alkali.[1404] According to the most recent analysis, that of Drs. Buchner and Herberger, this resin is a compound substance, which consists of two resinous principles, one possessing in some degree the properties of an acid, and the other the properties of a base. The latter, which they have called euphorbin, is considered by them the true active principle of euphorbium.[1405] It will be mentioned under the head of Jalap, that they have taken the same view of the nature of other resinous poisons. Orfila found that a large dog was killed in twenty-six hours and a half by half an ounce of powder of euphorbium introduced into the stomach, and retained there by a ligature on the gullet. The whole coats of the stomach, but especially the villous membrane, were of a deep-red or almost black colour; the colon, and still more the rectum, were of a lively red internally, and their inner membrane was checkered with little ulcers. Two drachms of the powder thrust into a wound in the thigh, and secured by covering it with the flaps of the incision, killed a dog in twenty-seven hours; and death was preceded by no remarkable symptom except great languor. The wounded limb was found after death highly inflamed, and the redness and sanguinolent infiltration, which were alluded to in the general observations on the vegetable acrids, extended from the knee as high up the trunk as the fifth rib,—a striking proof of the rapidity with which this variety of inflammation diffuses itself.[1406] Mr. Blake concludes from his experiments, that euphorbium, when injected in a state of solution in the jugular vein, acts by obstructing both the pulmonary and systemic capillaries, and so preventing the passage of the blood into the left side of the heart; but that the heart is not primarily acted on.[1407] The most common symptoms occasioned in man by euphorbium are violent griping and purging, and excessive exhaustion; but it appears probable that narcotic symptoms are also at times induced. A case of irritant poisoning with it has been related in the Philosophical Transactions; but it is not a pure one, as a large quantity of camphor was taken at the same time. Much irritation was produced in the alimentary canal; but by the prompt excitement of vomiting and the subsequent use of opium the patient soon recovered.[1408] Mr. Furnival has related a fatal case which arose from a farrier having given a man a tea-spoonful by mistake for rhubarb. Burning heat in the throat and then in the stomach, vomiting, irregular hurried pulse, and cold perspiration were the leading symptoms; and the person died in three days. Several gangrenous spots were found in the stomach, and its coats tore with the slightest touch.[1409] The operation of this substance is so violent and uncertain, that it has long ceased to be employed inwardly in the regular practice of medicine, and has been even excluded from some modern Pharmacopœias. It is still used by farriers as an external application; and in the Infirmary of this city I met with a fatal case of poisoning in the human subject, which was supposed to have been produced by a mixture containing it, and intended to cure horses of the grease. Pyl has related the proceedings in a prosecution against a man for putting powder of euphorbium into his maid-servant’s bed; and from this narrative it appears, that, when applied to the sound skin, it causes violent heat, itching and smarting, succeeded by inflammation and blisters.[1410] Dr. Veitch denies that the powder has any such power;[1411] but the effects described by Pyl correspond with popular belief. Probably all the species of euphorbium possess the same properties as _E. officinarum_. Orfila found that the juice of the leaves of E. _cyparissias_ and _lathyris_ produces precisely the effects described above. Sproegel applied the juice of the latter to his face, and was attacked in consequence with an eruption like nettle-rash; and he found that it caused warts and hair to drop out.[1412] Vicat mentions analogous facts, and Lamotte notices the case of a patient who died in consequence of a clyster having been prepared with this species instead of the mercurialis.[1413] The seeds and root of the _E. lathyris_ or caper-spurge are used by the inhabitants of the northern Alps in the dose of fifteen grains as an emetic; and very lately the oil of the seeds has been employed in Italy as an active purgative, which in the dose of two or eight grains is said to possess all the efficacy of croton oil.[1414] MM. Chevallier and Aubergier have also found the seeds of the _E. hybeua_ and their expressed oil to be very energetic. The seeds yield 44 per cent. of oil, which in the dose of ten drops produces copious watery evacuations without pain, and resembles closely croton-oil in its effects.[1415] The _E. esula_ appears to be a very active species. Scopoli says that a woman who took thirty grains of the root died in half an hour, and that he once knew it cause fatal gangrene when imprudently applied to the skin of the belly.[1416] Withering observes that all the indigenous species blister and ulcerate the skin, and that many of them are used by country people for these purposes.[1417] I have no where seen any notice taken by authors of narcotic symptoms as the effect of poisoning with euphorbium; and indeed this substance has always been considered a pure irritant. I am informed, however, by the Messrs. Herring, wholesale druggists in London, that their workmen are subject to headache, giddiness and stupor, if they do not carefully avoid the dust thrown up while it is ground in the mill; and that the men themselves are familiarly acquainted with this risk. An analogous fact has likewise been communicated to me by Dr. Hood of this city, relative to the effects of the seeds of the _E. lathyris_. A child two years of age ate some of the seeds, and soon after vomited severely, which is the usual effect. Drowsiness, however, succeeded; and after a few returns of vomiting, which were promoted by an emetic, deep sleep gradually came on, broken by convulsions, stertorous breathing and sighs. Sensibility was somewhat restored by blood-letting and the warm bath; after which the tendency to sleep was interrupted by frequent agitation and exercise in the open air. The vomiting then recurred for a time; but the child eventually got well. _Of Poisoning with the Seeds of the Castor-Oil Tree._ _Castor-oil_ at present so extensively used as a mild and effectual laxative, is nevertheless derived from a plant hardly inferior in activity as a poison to that just considered. It is the expressed oil of the seeds of the _Ricinus communis_ or Palma Christi. Much discussion has taken place as to the source of the acrid properties of this seed, some supposing that they reside in the embryo, others in the perisperm, others in the cotyledon, others in a principle formed from the oil by heat; and the question is scarcely yet settled. It is certain, however, that, although castor oil owes its occasional acridity to changes effected by the heat to which it is sometimes exposed in the process of separation, nevertheless the cotyledons are in themselves acrid.[1418] Two or three of the seeds will operate as a violent cathartic. Bergius, as quoted by Orfila, says he knew a stout man who was attacked with profuse vomiting and purging after having masticated a single seed. Lanzoni met with an instance where three grains of the fresh seeds, taken by a young woman, caused so violent vomiting, hiccup, pain in the stomach, and faintness, that for some time her life was considered in great danger.[1419] Mr. Alfred Taylor met with three cases of poisoning with castor-oil seeds. Two sisters, who took each from two to four seeds, suffered severely; and a third, who took twenty, died in five days, with symptoms like those of malignant cholera.[1420] Climate probably affects their activity; for I have known a person eat without any effect several seeds ripened in the open air in this neighbourhood. Dogs vomit so easily that they may take thirty seeds without material inconvenience, if the gullet is not tied. But if the gullet is secured, a much less quantity will occasion death in six hours. They produce violent inflammation when applied to a wound.[1421] _Of Poisoning with the Physic-nut._ The plants of the genus _Jatropha_, belonging to the same natural family, have all of them the same acrid properties as the castor-oil tree. The seeds of the _J. curcas_, the physic-nut of the West Indies, when applied in the form of powder to a wound, produce violent spreading inflammation of the subcutaneous cellular tissue; and when introduced into the stomach they inflame that organ and the intestines.[1422] Four seeds will act on man as a powerful cathartic.[1423] I have known violent vomiting and purging occasioned by a few grains of the cake, left after expression of the fixed oil from the bruised seeds; and in some experiments performed a few years ago, I found that twelve or fifteen drops of the oil produced exactly the same effects as an ounce of castor-oil, though not with such certainty. In the last edition of this work some observations were made, on the authority of MM. Pelletier and Caventou, respecting the properties of a pure oil and a volatile acid, supposed by them to exist in the physic-nut; but they analyzed the croton seed by mistake for it. Two other species have been also examined, but not with care, namely, the _Jatropha multifida_, and the _Jatropha_ or _Janipha manihot_. It is probable that the seeds of both are acrid, and also the oil which may be extracted from them by pressure. But a much more interesting part of the latter species in a toxicological point of view is the root; the juice of which is a most energetic poison. The _Janipha manihot_, or cassava-plant, has two varieties, one of which produces a small, spindle-shaped, bland root, called, in the West Indies, sweet cassava, while the other has a much larger, bitter, poisonous root, called bitter cassava, and in universal use for obtaining the well-known amylaceous substance, tapioca. The juice of the bitter variety is watery, and so poisonous that, according to Dr. Clark of Dominica, negroes have been killed in an hour by drinking half a pint of it.[1424] It has been commonly, but erroneously, arranged among acrid poisons. It really belongs to the narcotic class, for it occasions coma and convulsions. And we now know the cause of this extraordinary anomaly in the natural family to which the species belongs; because MM. Henry and Boutron ascertained that the juice imported into France, as well as what they expressed from fresh roots sent from the West Indies, contains hydrocyanic acid, produces in animals all the usual effects of that poison, and is rendered inert by such means as will remove the acid,—for example, by the addition of nitrate of silver.[1425] I confirmed this singular discovery in 1838 by examination of some well-preserved juice from Demerara. It is easy to see how tapioca, which is obtained from the poisonous root by careful elutriation, becomes quite bland during the process. _Of Poisoning with Manchineel._ The _manchineel_ [_Hippomane mancinella_], another plant of the same natural family, contains a milky juice, which is possessed of very acrid properties. Orfila and Ollivier have made some careful experiments with it on animals,[1426] and M. Ricord has since added some observations on its effects on man.[1427] From the former it appears that two drachms of the juice applied to a wound in a dog will cause death in twenty-eight hours, by exciting diffuse cellular inflammation; and that half that quantity will prove fatal in nine hours when introduced into the stomach. From the observations of M. Ricord it follows that inflammation is excited wherever the juice is applied, even in the sound skin; but he denies the generally received notion, that similar effects ensue from sleeping under the branches of the tree, or receiving drops of moisture from the leaves. This notion, however, it is right to add, has been adopted by other recent authors. Descourtils, for example, states that it is dangerous to sleep under the tree; that drops of rain from the leaves will blister any part of the skin on which they fall; and that on these accounts the police of St. Domingo were in the practice of destroying the trees wherever they grew.[1428] Other species of Hippomane are equally poisonous. The _H. biglandulosa_ and _H. spinosa_ are peculiarly so, especially the latter, which is known to the negroes of St. Domingo by the name of Zombi apple, and is familiarly used by them as a potent poison.[1429] _Of Poisoning with Croton._ The oil of the _Croton Tiglium_ has been familiarly known for some years as a very powerful hydragogue cathartic in the dose of a few drops; and therefore little doubt could exist that both the oil and the seed which yields it must be active irritant poisons in moderate doses. Accordingly it has been lately found by experiments in Germany that forty seeds will kill a horse in the course of seven hours;[1430] and Rumphius mentions that it was a common poison in his time at Amboyna among the natives. I have known most violent watery purging and great prostration caused by four drops of the expressed oil. A fatal case of poisoning with it occurred not long ago in France. A young man who swallowed two drachms and a half of the oil by mistake, instead of using it as an embrocation, was soon seized with tenderness of the belly, violent efforts to vomit, cold sweating, laborious respiration, blueness of the lips and fingers, and an almost imperceptible pulse,—then with profuse, involuntary discharges by stool, burning along the throat and gullet, and insensibility of the skin;—and in four hours he expired. The villous coat of the stomach was soft, but not otherwise injured.[1431] The activity of the seed and oil seems to depend on a peculiar volatile acid, which was discovered by MM. Pelletier and Caventou when they analysed the croton seed by mistake as the seed of the _Jatropha curcas_, or physic-nut. When the oil was saponified by potash and then freed of the acid by distillation, it became inert. On the other hand, the acid was found by them to excite inflammation of the stomach, and spreading inflammation of the cellular tissue, according as it was administered internally or applied to a wound.[1432] The next natural family in which plants are to be found that possess the properties of the acrid poisons, is the _Cucurbitaceæ_, or gourds. This family, it should be remarked, does not in general possess poisonous properties. On the contrary, they are, with a few exceptions, remarkably mild; and many of them supply articles of luxury for the table. The melon, gourd, and cucumber belong to the order. The only poisons of the order which have been examined with any care are elaterium, bryony, and colocynth. _Of Poisoning with Bryony._ The roots of the _Bryonia alba_ and _Dioica_ possesses properties essentially the same with those of euphorbium. The _B. dioica_ is a native of Britain, where it grows among hedges, and is usually known by the name of wild vine, or bryony. The flowers are greenish, and are succeeded by small, red berries. The root, which is the most active part of the plant, is spindle-shaped, and varies in size from that of a man’s thigh to that of a radish. Orfila found that half an ounce of the root introduced into the stomach of a dog, killed it in twenty-four hours, when the gullet was tied; and that two drachms and a half applied to a wound brought on violent inflammation and suppuration of the part, ending fatally in sixty hours.[1433] Bryony root owes its power to an extractive matter discovered in it by Brandes and Firnhaber, to which the name of Bryonine has been given. According to the experiments of Collard de Martigny, bryonine acts on the stomach and on a wound exactly as the root itself, but more energetically. When introduced into the cavity of the pleura it causes rapid death by true pleurisy, ending in the effusion of fibrin.[1434] Before bryony-root was expelled from medical practice, it was often known to produce violent vomiting, tormina, profuse watery evacuations, and fainting. Pyl mentions a fatal case of poisoning with it, which happened at Cambray in France. The subject was a man who took two glasses of an infusion of the root to cure ague, and was soon after seized with violent tormina and purging, which nothing could arrest, and which soon terminated fatally.[1435] Orfila quotes a similar case from the Gazette de Santé, which proved fatal within four hours, in consequence of a strong decoction of an ounce of the root having been administered, partly by the mouth and partly in a clyster, to repel the secretion of milk.[1436] _Of Poisoning with Colocynth._ Colocynth, or bitter-apple, is another very active and more common acrid derived from a plant of the same family, the Cucumis colocynthis. It is imported into this country in the form of a roundish, dry, light fruit, as big as an orange, of a yellowish-white colour, and excessively bitter taste. Its active principle is probably a resinoid matter discovered by Vauquelin, which is very soluble in alcohol and sparingly so in water, but which imparts even to the latter an intensely bitter taste.[1437] It is termed Colocynthin. According to the experiments of Orfila, colocynth powder or its decoction produces the usual effects of the acrid vegetables on the stomach and on the subcutaneous cellular tissue. Three drachms proved fatal in fifteen hours to a dog through the former channel when the gullet was tied, and two drachms killed another when applied to a wound.[1438] A considerable number of severe cases of poisoning with this substance have occurred in the human subject; and a few have proved fatal. Tulpius notices the case of a man who was nearly carried off by profuse, bloody diarrhœa, in consequence of taking a decoction of three colocynth apples.[1439] Orfila relates that of a rag-picker, who, attempting to cure himself of a gonorrhœa by taking three ounces of colocynth, was seized with vomiting, acute pain in the stomach, profuse diarrhœa, dimness of sight, and slight delirium; but he recovered under the use of diluents and local blood-letting.[1440] In 1823 a coroner’s inquest was held at London on the body of a woman who died in twenty-four hours, with incessant vomiting and purging, in consequence of having swallowed by mistake a tea-spoonful and a half of colocynth powder.[1441] M. Carron d’Annecy has communicated to Orfila the details of an instructive case, which also proved fatal. The subject was a locksmith, who took from a quack two glasses of decoction of colocynth to cure hemorrhoids, and was soon after attacked with colic, purging, heat in the belly, and dryness of the throat. Afterwards the belly became tense and excessively tender, and the stools were suppressed altogether. Next morning he had also retention of urine, retraction of the testicles and priapism. On the third day the retention ceased, but the other symptoms continued, and the skin became covered with clammy sweat, which preceded his death only a few hours. The intestines were red, studded with black spots, and matted together by fibrinous matter; the usual fluid of peritonitis was effused into the belly; the villous coat of the stomach was here and there ulcerated; and the liver, kidneys, and bladder also exhibited traces of inflammation.[1442] _Of Poisoning with Elaterium._ Elaterium, which is procured from a third plant of the cucurbitaceæ, the _Momordica elaterium_ or squirting cucumber, possesses precisely the same properties with the two preceding substances. It appears, however, to be more active; for a single grain has been known to act violently on man. There can be no doubt that small doses will prove fatal; but its strength and consequently its effects are uncertain. British elaterium, which is the feculence that subsides in the juice of the fruit, is the most powerful; French elaterium, which is the extract of the same juice, is much weaker; and a still weaker preparation sometimes made is an extract of the juice of the whole plant. The plant itself is probably poisonous. But the only case in point with which I am acquainted is a singular instance of poisoning, apparently produced in consequence of the plant having been carried for some time betwixt the hat and head. A medical gentleman in Paris, after carrying a specimen to his lodgings in his hat, was seized in half an hour with acute pain and sense of tightness in the head, succeeded by colic pains, fixed pain in the stomach, frequent watery purging, bilious vomiting, and some fever. These symptoms continued upwards of twelve hours.[1443] The active properties of this substance reside in a peculiar crystalline principle, discovered by Mr. Morries-Stirling, and named by him _Elaterine_. It is procured by evaporating the alcoholic infusion of elaterium to the consistence of thin oil, and throwing it into boiling distilled water; upon which a white crystalline precipitate is formed, and more falls down as the water cools. This precipitate when purified by a second solution in alcohol and precipitation by water, is pure elaterine. In mass it has a silky appearance. The crystals are microscopic rhombic prisms, striated on the sides. It is intensely bitter. It does not dissolve in the alkalis, or in water, is sparingly soluble in diluted acids, but easily soluble in alcohol, ether, and fixed oil. It has not any alkaline reaction on litmus.—It is a poison of very great activity. A tenth of a grain, as I have myself witnessed, will sometimes cause purging in man; and a fifth of a grain in two doses, administered at an interval of twenty-four hours to a rabbit, killed it seventeen hours after the second dose. The best British elaterium contains 26 per cent. of it, the worst 15 per cent.; but French elaterium does not contain above 5 or 6 per cent.[1444] These facts account for the great irregularity in the effects of this drug as a cathartic. The principle discovered by Mr. Morries-Stirling was also discovered about the same time by Mr. Hennell[1445] of London. _Of Poisoning with the Ranunculaceæ._ The natural family of the Ranunculaceæ abounds in acrid poisons. Indeed few of the genera included in it are without more or less acrid property. The genus _Ranunculus_ is of some interest to the British toxicologist, because many species grow in this country, and unpleasant accidents have been occasioned by them. The most common are the _R. bulbosus_, _acris_, _sceleratus_, _Flammula_, _Lingua_, _aquatilis_, _repens_, _Ficaria_, which are all abundant in the neighbourhood of this city. The _Ranunculus acris_ is the only species that has been particularly examined. Five ounces of juice, extracted by triturating the leaves with two ounces of water, killed a stout dog in twelve hours when taken internally. Two drachms of the aqueous extract applied to a wound killed another in twelve hours by inducing the usual inflammation.[1446] Krapf, as quoted in Orfila’s Toxicology, found by experiments on himself, that two drops of the expressed juice of the _Ranunculus acris_ produced burning pain and spasms in the gullet and griping in the lower belly. A single flower had the same effect. When he chewed the thickest and most succulent of the leaves, the salivary glands were strongly stimulated, his tongue was excoriated and cracked, his teeth smarted, and his gums became tender and bloody.[1447] Dr. Withering alleges that it will blister the skin. A man at Bevay in the north of France, after swallowing by mistake a glassful of the juice which had been kept for some time as a remedy for vermin on the head, was seized in four hours with violent vomiting and colic, and expired in two days.[1448] The acridity of the genus ranunculus is entirely lost by drying, either with or without artificial heat. The _R. acris_, however, is far from being the most active species of the genus. The taste of the leaves of _R. bulbosus_, _alpestris_, _gramineus_, and _Flammula_, and also of the unripe germens of _R. sceleratus_, is much more pungent. The _R. repens_, _Ficaria_, _auricomus_, _aquatilis_, and _Lingua_, I have found to be bland. The genus _Anemone_ produces similar effects on the animal economy. The most pungent species I have examined are the _A. pulsatilla_, _A. hortensis_, and _A. coronaria_; the _A. nemorosa_ and _A. patens_ are less active; and the _A. hepatica_, as well as the _A. alpestris_, are bland. The powder of the _A. pulsatilla_ causes itching of the eyes, colic and vomiting, if in pulverizing it the operator do not avoid the fine dust which is driven up; and Bulliard relates the case of a man who, in applying the bruised root to his calf for rheumatism, was attacked with inflammation and gangrene of the whole leg.[1449] The same author mentions an instance where violent convulsions were produced by an infusion of the _A. nemorosa_, and the person was for some time thought to be in great danger.[1450] The acridity of the anemone is retained under desiccation even in the vapour-bath; but is very slowly lost under exposure to the air, not entirely, however, in two months. The ripe fruit of the _A. hortensis_ is bland. The activity of the anemones is owing to a volatile oil, which, when left for some time in the water with which it passes over in distillation is converted into a neutral crystalline body called anemonine, and a peculiar acid termed anemonic acid.[1451] The _Caltha palustris_, or marsh marigold, a plant closely allied in external characters to the ranunculus, is considered by toxicologists a powerful acrid poison. Wibmer observes that it has an acrid, burning taste,[1452]—a remark which has been also made by Haller.[1453] On the continent the flower buds are said to be sometimes pickled and used for capers on account of their pungency. The following set of cases which happened in 1817 near Solingen will show that in some localities it possesses energetic and singular properties. The poison was taken accidentally by a family of five persons, in consequence of their having been compelled by the badness of the times to try to make food of various herbs. They were all seized half an hour after eating with sickness, pain in the abdomen, vomiting, headache, and ringing in the ears, afterwards with dysuria and diarrhœa, next day with œdema of the whole body, particularly of the face, and on the third day with an eruption of pemphigous vesicles as large as almonds, which dried up in forty-eight hours. They all recovered.[1454] Notwithstanding these apparently pointed facts, however, I have no doubt that the marsh marigold is in some circumstances bland, and is commonly so in this country, or at least but feebly poisonous. Haller, in speaking of its acrid taste, adds that when young it is eaten with safety by goats. For my own part I have never been able to remark any distinct acridity in tasting it either before inflorescence, or in the young flower-buds, or in any part of the plant while in full flower. It produces a peculiar, disagreeable impression on the back of the tongue, when collected in dry situations; but never occasions that pungent acridity which so remarkably characterizes many species of ranunculus, anemone, and clematis. The _stavesacre_, or _Delphinium staphysagria_, another plant of the same natural family, is interesting in a scientific point of view, because its properties have been distinctly traced to a peculiar alkaloid. The seeds, which alone have been hitherto examined, were analyzed by MM. Lassaigne and Feneulle, who, besides a number of inert principles, discovered in them an alkaloid, possessing in an eminent degree the poisonous qualities of the seeds. This alkaloid is solid, white, pulverulent but crystalline, fusible like wax, very bitter and acrid, almost insoluble in water, very soluble in ether and alcohol, and capable of forming salts with most of the acids.[1455] It has been named _delphinia_. It was also discovered about the same time by Brandes.[1456] Orfila found that six grains of it diffused through water, introduced into the stomach of a dog and retained there with a ligature on the gullet, brought on efforts to vomit, restlessness, giddiness, immobility, slight convulsions, and death in two or three hours. The same quantity, if previously dissolved in vinegar, will cause death in forty minutes. In the former case, but not in the latter, the inner coat of the stomach is found to be generally red.[1457] An ounce of the bruised seeds themselves killed a dog in fifty-four hours when introduced into the stomach, and two drachms applied to a wound in the thigh killed another in two days. In the former animal a part of the stomach was crimson-red; in the latter there was extensive subcutaneous inflammation reaching as high as the fourth rib.[1458] Besides these four genera of the ranunculaceæ many other genera of the same natural order are equally energetic. The _Clematis vitalba_ or traveller’s-joy is said to be acrid, but does not taste so: the _C. flammula_, however, is pungently acrid to the taste; it reddens and blisters the skin; and when swallowed excites inflammation in the stomach. The _trollius_ or globe flower is also considered acrid; and its root in appearance, smell, and taste, has been said to resemble closely that of the black hellebore. The herb, however, in Scotland, has certainly none of the peculiar acrid pungency of the ranunculus, anemone, or clematis, but is on the contrary bland. Some other genera of equal power have been usually arranged with the narcotico-acrid poisons on account of their action on the nervous system; and probably some of the present group of acrids might with equal propriety be removed to the same class. Of plants possessing acrid properties and interspersed throughout other natural families, the only species I shall particularly notice are the mezereon, cuckow-pint, gamboge, daffodil, jalap-plant, and savine. _Of Poisoning with Mezereon._ The _mezereon_ and several other species of the genus Daphne to which it belongs are powerfully acrid. They belong to the natural order Thymeleæ. The active properties of the bark of mezereon have been traced to a very acrid resin; and those of the allied species, _Daphne alpina_, to a volatile, acrid acid.[1459] The experiments of Orfila have been confined to a foreign species, the _D. Gnidium_ or _garou_ of the French. Three drachms of the powder of its bark retained in the stomach of a dog killed it in twelve hours; and two drachms applied to a wound killed another in two days.[1460] The action of the other species has not been so scientifically investigated; but fatal accidents have arisen from them when taken by the human species. Children have been tempted to eat the berries of the _D. mezereon_ by their singular beauty; and some have died in consequence. Three such cases, not fatal, have been related by Dr. Grieve of Dumfries. Two of the children had violent vomiting and purging: in the third narcotic symptoms came on in five hours, namely, great drowsiness, dilatation of the pupils, extreme slowness of the pulse, retarded respiration, and freedom from pain.[1461] Vicat relates the case of a man who took the wood of it for dropsy, and was attacked with profuse diarrhœa and obstinate vomiting, the last of which symptoms recurred occasionally for six weeks.[1462] A fatal case, in a child about eight years of age, occurred a few years ago in this city. Linnæus in his _Flora Suecica_ says that six berries will kill a wolf, and that he once saw a girl die of excessive vomiting and hæmoptysis, in consequence of taking twelve of them to check an ague.[1463] The _D. laureola_ or spurge-laurel, a common indigenous species, abounding in low woods, is said by Withering to be very acrid, especially its root.[1464] _Of Poisoning with Cuckow-pint._ The _Arum maculatum_, or cuckow-pint, one of our earliest spring flowers, not uncommon in moist ground, under the shelter of woods, is one of the most violent of all acrid vegetables inhabiting this country. I have known acute burning pain of the mouth and throat, pain of the stomach and vomiting, colic and some diarrhœa, occasioned by eating two leaves. The genus possesses the same properties in other climates, the several species being everywhere among the most potent acrid poisons in their respective regions. The _Arum seguinum_, or dumb cane of the West Indies, is so active that two drachms of the juice have been known to prove fatal in a few hours.[1465] It is not a little remarkable that the acridity of the arum is lost not merely by drying, but likewise by distillation. I have observed that when the roots are distilled with a little water, neither the distilled water nor the residuum possesses acridity. Reinsch says he has eaten powder of arum root, which, though not acrid to the taste, produced severe burning of the throat not long after it was swallowed.[1466] _Of Poisoning with Gamboge._ The familiar pigment and purgative _gamboge_ is one of the pure acrids, and possesses considerable activity. It appears from the researches of Orfila,[1467] some experiments by Schubarth,[1468] and various earlier inquiries quoted by Wibmer,[1469] that two drachms will kill a sheep; that a drachm and a half will kill a dog if retained by a ligature on the gullet, while much larger doses have little effect without this precaution, as the poison is soon vomited; that an ounce has little effect on the horse; that eighteen grains will prove fatal to the rabbit within twenty-four hours; and that the symptoms are such as chiefly indicate an irritant action. Orfila farther found that it produces intense spreading inflammation when applied to a recent wound, and in this way may occasion death as quickly and with as great certainty as when administered internally. Gamboge in its action on man is well known to be one of the most certain and active of the drastic cathartics, from three to seven grains being sufficient to cause copious watery diarrhœa, commonly with smart colic. Larger doses will induce hypercatharsis. A drachm has proved fatal, as is exemplified by a case in the German Ephemerides where the symptoms were excessive vomiting, purging, and faintness.[1470] Under this head are probably to be arranged the repeated cases, which have lately occurred in this country, of fatal poisoning with a noted quack nostrum, Morison’s pills. Almost every physician in extensive practice has met with cases of violent hypercatharsis occasioned by the incautious use of these pills; and three instances are now on record where death was clearly occasioned by them.[1471] No toxicologist will feel any surprise at such results, when he learns that one sort contains, besides aloes and colocynth, half a grain of gamboge, and another three times as much, in each pill; and that ten, fifteen, or even twenty pills are sometimes taken for a dose once or oftener in the course of the day.[1472] The symptoms in the cases alluded to were sickness, vomiting and watery purging, pain, tension, fulness, tenderness, and heat in the abdomen, with cold extremities and sinking pulse; and in the dead body the appearances were great redness of the stomach with softening of its villous coat, in the intestines softening and slate-gray coloration of the same coat, and in one instance intestinal ulceration. Gamboge is one of the poisons whose energy seems to be irregularly modified by the co-existence of certain constitutional states in disease. Physicians in Britain cannot but be startled to hear of the practice, prevailing among the followers of Rasori in Italy, of administering this purgative in doses of a drachm and upwards in inflammatory diseases. But it is nevertheless undeniable, that it has been given to that extent in such circumstances, with no further consequence than brisk purging. Professor Linoli mentions two cases of inflammatory dropsy, in which he gave gamboge-powder in gradually increasing doses, till he reached in one instance an entire drachm, and in the other 86 grains. In the course of a month one of his patients got 1044 grains, and the other took 850 grains in twelve days. Both recovered from their dropsy, and the purging was never great.[1473] _Of Poisoning with Daffodil._ The common _daffodil_, the _Narcissus pseudo-narcissus_ of botanists, though commonly arranged with the vegetable acrids, seems not entitled to a place among them. At least the experiments of Orfila rather tend to show that it acts through absorption on the nervous system. Four drachms of the aqueous extract of this plant secured in the stomach in the usual way killed a dog in less than twenty-four hours; and one drachm applied to a wound killed another in six hours. In both cases vomiting or efforts to vomit seemed the only symptom of note; and in both the stomach was found here and there cherry-red. The wound was not much inflamed.[1474] _Of Poisoning with Jalap._ _Jalap_, the powder of the root of the _Ipomæa purga_, and a common purgative, is an active poison in large doses; and this every one should know, as severe and even dangerous effects have followed its incautious use in the hands of the practical joker. Its active properties reside in a particular resinous principle. It contains a tenth of its weight of mixed resin, which, like the resin of euphorbium, has been separated by Drs. Buchner and Herberger into two, one possessing some of the properties of acids, the other some of the properties of bases; and the latter they consider the active principle, and have accordingly named Jalapine.[1475] Mr. Hume of London some time ago procured from the crude drug a powdery substance, to which he gave the same name, and which he conceived to be the active principle. His analysis has not been generally relied on by chemists; but it is not improbable that his principle differs little from that of the German chemists. The action of jalap has been examined scientifically by M. Felix Cadet de Gassicourt, who found that it produced no particular symptom when injected into the jugular vein of a dog in the dose of twenty-four grains, or when applied to the cellular tissue in the dose of a drachm. But when rubbed daily into the skin of the belly and thighs it excited in a few days severe dysentery; when introduced into the pleura it excited pleurisy, fatal in three days; when introduced into the peritonæum it caused peritonitis and violent dysentery, fatal in six days; and when introduced into the stomach or the anus, the animals died of profuse purging in four or five days, and the stomach and intestines were then found red and sometimes ulcerated. Two drachms administered by the mouth proved fatal.[1476] _Scammony_, which is procured from another species of the same family, the _Convolvulus scammonea_, has been found by Orfila to be much less active. Four drachms given to dogs produced only diarrhœa.[1477] _Of Poisoning with Savin._ The leaves of the _Juniperus sabina_, or savin, have been long known to be poisonous. They have a peculiar heavy, rather disagreeable odour, and a bitter, acrid, aromatic, somewhat resinous taste. They yield an essential oil, which possesses all their qualities in an eminent degree. A dog was killed by six drachms of the powdered leaves confined in the stomach. It appeared to suffer pain, died in sixteen hours, and exhibited on dissection only trivial redness of the stomach. Two drachms introduced into a wound of the thigh caused death after the manner of the other vegetable acrids in two days; and besides inflammation of the limb there was found redness of the rectum.[1478] Savin is a good deal used in medicine for stimulating old ulcers and keeping open blistered surfaces; which may be done without danger, although it cannot be applied to a fresh wound without risk of diffuse inflammation. Both the powder and the essential oil are of some consequence in a medico-legal point of view, as they have been often used with the intent of procuring abortion. The oil is generally believed by the vulgar to possess this property in a peculiar degree. Doubts, however, may be entertained whether any such property exists independently of its operation as a violent acrid on the bowels. It has certainly been taken to a considerable amount without the intended effect; of which Foderé has noticed an unequivocal example. The woman took daily for twenty days no less than a hundred drops of the oil, yet carried her child to the full time.[1479] The powder has likewise been taken to a large extent without avail. A female, whose case is noticed by Foderé, took without her knowledge so much of the powder that she was attacked with vomiting, hiccup, heat in the lower belly, and fever of a fortnight’s duration; nevertheless she was not delivered till the natural time.[1480] There is no doubt, however, that if given in such quantity as to cause violent purging, abortion may ensue; but unless there is naturally a predisposition to miscarriage, the constitutional injury and intestinal irritation required to induce it are so great, as to be always attended with extreme danger, independent of the uterine disorder. Of this train of effects the following case, for which I am indebted to Mr. Cockson of Macclesfield, is a good illustration. A female applied to a pedlar to supply her with the means of getting rid of her pregnancy: and under his direction appears to have taken a large quantity of a strong infusion of savin-leaves on a Friday morning and again next morning. A very imperfect account was obtained of the symptoms, as no medical man witnessed them; but it was ascertained that she had violent pain in the belly and distressing strangury. On the Sunday afternoon she miscarried; and on the ensuing Thursday she died. Mr. Cockson, who examined the body next day, found extensive peritonæal inflammation unequivocally indicated by the effusion of fibrinous flakes,—the uterus presenting all the signs of recent delivery,—the inside of the stomach of a red tint, checkered with patches of florid extravasation,—and its contents of a greenish colour, owing evidently to the presence of a vegetable powder, as was proved by separating and examining it with the microscope. My colleague Dr. Traill has communicated to me the particulars of a similar case. A servant-girl, after being for some time in low spirits, was seized with violent colic pains, frequent vomiting, straining at stool, tenderness of the belly, dysuria and general fever; under which symptoms she died after several days of suffering. The stomach was inflamed, in parts black, and at the lower curvature perforated. The uterus with its appendages was very red, and contained a fine _membrana decidua_, but no ovum. The lower intestines were inflamed. There was found in the stomach a greenish powder, which, when washed and dried, had the taste of savin. A singular case is quoted by Wibmer of a woman who died from taking an infusion of the herb for the purpose of procuring miscarriage, and in whom death seems to have been occasioned by the gall-bladder bursting in consequence of the violent fits of vomiting.[1481] In a charge of wilful abortion the mere possession of oil of savin would be a suspicious circumstance, because the notion that it has the power of causing miscarriage is very general among the vulgar; while it is scarcely employed by them for any useful purpose. The leaves in the form of infusion are in some parts of England a popular remedy for worms; and the oil is used in regular medicine as an emmenagogue. The following list includes all the other plants which have been either ascertained experimentally to belong to the present order, or are believed on good general evidence to possess the same or analogous properties. By careful experiment Orfila has ascertained that the Gratiola officinalis, Rhus radicans and Rhus toxicodendron, Chelidonium majus and Sedum acre, possess them; and the following species are also generally considered acrid, namely, Rhododendron chrysanthum and ferrugineum, Pedicularis palustris, Cyclamen Europæum, Plumbago Europæa, Pastinaca sativa, Lobelia syphilitica and longiflora, Hydrocotyle vulgaris. To these may be added the common elder or Sambucus nigra, the leaves and flowers of which caused in a boy, once a patient of mine, dangerous inflammation of the mucous membrane of the bowels lasting for eight days.