214

POISONING WITH STRAMONIUM.

might have arisen from some brandy which he had swallowed. No of the poison could be detected in the stomach or the contents.

A medical man was charged with attempting to poison his wif other persons with atropine, which it was alleged had been placed rabbit pie. (Reg. v. Sprague, Exeter Aut. Ass., 1865.) The ev failed to show at the trial that the prisoner, or any other person, have mixed poison with the pie, much less such a poison as this, in the dose of one or two grains, either destroys life or produces continuing for some time. The symptoms, as described, resembled caused by noxious food, and differed in many respects from the poisoning by atropine. The only fact on which this chemical seemed to rest was that the pupils of the eyes of those who ate of t and were taken ill were dilated, and a portion of the extract of the ings of the pie-dish is said to have caused a dilatation of the pupil analyst. (Med. Times and Gaz., 1865, ii. p. 168; Chem. News, 18 p. 72.) It is stated that the supposed poison was separated fro baked leg of a rabbit, by soaking it in dilute hydrochloric acid, b whole of the scientific theory rested upon the dilatation of the pupil this, although presumptive, is not positive evidence of atropine h been administered.

The criminal administration of atropine is a rare event in this co A trial for murder by this alkaloid took place at the Manchester Assizes, 1872 (Reg. v. Steele). The prisoner, who was a nurse i workhouse, was charged with administering atropine to the senior su and thereby causing his death. The deceased was taken suddenly il his breakfast, and died in about twelve hours with the usual sympto poisoning with atropine. The poison, a solution of atropine in spiri detected in the body, and also in a liquid found in the room. Mil the vehicle through which it was taken. The milk as sent fro kitchen contained nothing injurious, but that found in deceased's was tasted by two of the nurses, and both suffered from pois by atropine. The prisoner had access to this room, and it was a that she had a strong motive for this criminal act, but there was no proof to show that she put the poison into the milk, and she was acqu

It m

Analysis.-Atropine is a white crystalline alkaloid, sparingly solu water, but readily dissolved by alcohol, ether, and dilute acids. It not readily crystallize, but forms readily crystallizable salts. detected in, and separated from, organic liquids by the process of (see p. 221, post).

The test usually employed, in addition to the general tests for alka is a physiological one-the effect produced on the pupil of the ey small quantities of liquid or extract containing traces of atropine. pupil becomes largely dilated and does not respond to light. The nothing conclusive in this result, unless there is also evidence from s toms that belladonna has been actually taken or administered.

THORN-APPLE (DATURA STRAMONIUM).

Symptoms and Appearances.-The symptoms produced by stramo whether the leaves or seeds are used, are as follows: Soon after the has been taken there is giddiness, dimness of sight, a sense of fail insensibility, fixed and dilated pupils, flushed countenance, and a great, and full pulse. Sometimes there is restlessness, with a hot an skin, a wild and staring countenance, the breathing hurried and ga incessant talking without distinct articulation; and there are attem

NUX VOMICA-STRYCHNINE.

215

drive away, or grasp at, imaginary objects. There is picking at the bedclothes, with paroxysms of excessive laughter, and, if the person can walk, it is with a staggering gait, and he falls to the ground as if intoxicated or Completely exhausted. The seeds of two varieties of datura were used by the Thugs of India for rendering their victims powerless and insensible. Appearances. In a well-marked case of poisoning with stramonium seeds, in which death took place in less than eight hours, the following appearances were found: Great congestion of the vessels of the brain and its membranes, the brain firm and highly injected, the choroid plexus targid, the ventricles contained serum, the substance of the lungs congested, and the heart flaccid. The stomach contained about four ounces of digested food mixed with eighty-nine seeds of stramonium. There were two patches of extravasation in the mucous coat-one on the larger curvature and the other near the pylorus. Many seeds and fragments were also found in the intestines. (Lancet, 1847, ii. p. 29%.) In another case there were marks of diffused inflammation about the cardiac end of the stomach.

Fig. 25.
b

Seeds of Datura Stramonium. a, Natural size.

b, Magnified 30 diameters.

Analysis.-The seeds of stramonium, from which accidents have most frequently occurred, are flattened, kidney-shaped, but half oval, rough, and of a dark-brown or black color. They are liable to be mistaken for the seeds of capsicum. Of the dry Datura stramonium there are about eight seeds to a grain. They are of an oblong kidney-shape, and of a dark-brown or black color. The illustration (Fig. 25) shows their appearance under a low power of the microscope. The leaves of the common Datura stramonium are well characterized by their peculiar shape.

CHAPTER XXI.

NUX VOMICA.—STRYCHNINE.-SYMPTOMS AND APPEARANCES.-CHEMICAL AND MICROSCOPICAL ANALYSIS OF NUX VOMICA AND STRYCHNINE.-PROCESS FOR ORGANIC MIXTURES.— DIALYSIS.-BRucine.

NUX VOMICA. STRYCHNINE, OR STRYCHNIA.

Symptoms. At a variable interval after taking either nux vomica or strychnine in a poisonous dose, the person experiences a sense of uneasiness and restlessness, accompanied by a feeling of impending suffocation. There is a shuddering or a trembling of the whole frame, with twitching and jerkings of the arms and legs. Tetanic convulsions then commence suddenly with great violence, and nearly all the muscles of the body are simultaneously affected. The limbs are stretched out involuntarily, the hands are clenched; the head, after some convulsive jerking, is bent backwards, and the whole of the body becomes as stiff as a board. As the convulsions increase in frequency and severity, the body assumes a bow-like form (opisthotonos), being arched in the back and resting on the head and heels. The head is firmly bent backwards, the soles of the

216

NUX VOMICA-SYMPTOMS.

feet incurvated or arched, or everted, and the legs sometimes sep The abdomen is hard and tense, and the chest spasmodically fixed, respiration appears to be arrested. The face assumes a dusky, li congested appearance, with a drawn, wild, or anxious aspect; the e are prominent and staring, and the lips are livid. The intellect is and the sufferings, during this violent spasm of the voluntary muse severe. The patient in vain seeks for relief in gasping for air and ing to be turned over, moved, or held. The muscles of the lowe which are the first to be affected in tetanus from disease, are genera last to be affected by this poison. The jaw is not always fixed du paroxysm. The patient can frequently speak and swallow, and a thirst has been observed among the symptoms. In some cases of ing with nux vomica the jaw has been fixed by muscular spasm unlike the lockjaw of disease, this has come on suddenly in full int with tetanic spasms in other muscles, and there have been intermi which are not usually witnessed in the tetanus of disease.

The sudden and universal convulsion affecting the voluntary m has sometimes been so violent that the patient has been jerked bed. After an interval of from half a minute to one or two minute convulsions subside, there is an intermission, the patient feels exha and is bathed in perspiration. It has been noticed in some of cases that the pupils during the paroxysm are dilated, while in the mission they are contracted. The pulse during the spasms is so quic it can scarcely be counted, and the temperature of the body is elevated. Slight causes, such as an attempt to move, a sudden no gently touching the patient, will frequently bring on a recurrence convulsions. In cases likely to prove fatal, they rapidly succeed other, and increase in severity and duration, until at length the p dies, utterly exhausted. The tetanic symptoms produced by stryc when once clearly established, progress rapidly either to death or rec The person is conscious, and the mind is commonly clear to the last. has a strong apprehension of death. The duration of the case, whe symptoms have set in, is reckoned by minutes, while in the tetan disease, when fatal, it is reckoned by hours, days, and even weeks a general statement of the course of these cases of poisoning, within hours from the commencement of the symptoms the person either or recovers, according to the severity of the paroxysms and the str of his constitution. Death sometimes takes places in a paro (Lancet. 1861, i. p. 572.)

In 1885 (Reg. v. Day, Taunton Winter Ass.), a farmer was trie the murder of a female relative by strychnine, but was acquitted, n strychnine having been traced to the prisoner, although a red subs was deposed to as having been seen in the gruel which was the vehi which the poison was administered. This is the only instance whic editor has met with of the criminal administration of strychnine as substance. (See Vermin-killers, p. 218, post.)

In 1888, a gardener murdered his wife and son by means of pills taining strychnine substituted for ordinary purgative pills (Reg. v. B C. C. C., Jan. 1888). The editor has known extract of nux vomica and taken in mistake for extract of sarsaparilla, with fatal result.

The time at which the symptoms commence appears from the reco cases to be subject to great variation. In poisoning with nux vomica are generally more slow in appearing than in poisoning with strych Until they set in suddenly, the patient is capable of walking, talking going through his or her usual occupations. In a case which occurr

STRYCHNINE-FATAL DOSE.

217

Pellarin, a man swallowed about 300 grains of nux vomica, and no symptoms appeared for two hours. He died speedily in a violent convulsive ft. (Ann. d'Hyg., 1860, t. 2, p. 431.) Macredy reports a case of poisonng by a grain and a half of strychnine, followed by two fluidounces of tineture of opium, where the symptoms of strychnine-poisoning did not manifest themselves till after the lapse of eight hours. The patient reevered. (Edin. Med. and Surg. Jour., 1883, p. 757.) Generally, in poisuing by strychnine the symptoms appear in from five to twenty minutes. Appearances after Death.-In general the body is relaxed at the time of death and stiffens afterwards; but the commencement and duration of be rigid state depend on various conditions. In some cases the body is found rigid and arched (opisthotonos), with incurvated toes. (Reg. v. Day, p. 207.) Among the internal appearances which have been met with in different cases are congestion of the membranes and substance of the brain, as also of the upper part of the spinal marrow, with congestion of the lungs. The heart is contracted and empty; but its right cavities in some instances have been distended with liquid blood. The blood has been found black and liquid throughout the body. The mucous membrane of the stomach has occasionally presented slight patches of ecchymosis or congestion, probably depending on extraneous causes, such as the process of digestion, the presence of food or of alcoholic liquids. In most instances the stomach and intestines have been found quite healthy, and it is not in the nature of this poison either to inflame or to irritate the mucous membrane. Of the appearances observed in poisoning with strychnine, there are none which can be considered characteristic. Congestion of the membranes of the brain and spinal marrow is probably the most common. Fatal Dose. The sixteenth part of a grain of strychnine killed a child between two and three years of age in four hours. The smallest accurately recorded fatal dose in an adult was in the case of Dr. Warner. Half a grain of the sulphate of strychnine here destroyed life. (On Poioning by Strychnia, pp. 138, 139.) So powerful are the effects of this drug in certain cases that ordinary medicinal doses cannot be borne. The editor has known one-twelfth of a grain produce poisonous symptoms. Hare states that many deaths are recorded from one-quarter to one-half a grain dose (Boston Med. and Surg. Jour, Nov. 20, 1884, p. 482); but the editor has been unable to verify this statement. Symptoms of its poisonons action have frequently been unexpectedly produced. Fraser states that its action is most powerful through the skin. He found that when applied to rabbits hypodermically, from one-twentieth to one-fiftieth of a grain produced violent tetanic convulsions, followed by death in a few minutes.

With respect to nur vomica, three grains of the alcoholic extract have destroyed life. The smallest fatal dose of nux vomica in powder was in & case reported by Hoffmann (Med Rat. Syst., ii. 175). Thirty grains of the powder given in two doses of fifteen grains each, proved fatal. The poison was given by mistake for Peruvian bark to a patient laboring under quartan fever. This is about equivalent to the weight of one fullsized seed, and to only one-third of a grain of strychnine in the two doses. In fatal cases death generally takes place within two hours after the taking of strychnine. One of the most rapidly fatal cases recorded is that of Dr. Warner: the symptoms commenced in five minutes, and he died in twenty minutes. In the case of J. P. Cook, the symptoms commenced in an hour and a quarter, and terminated fatally in twenty minutes. In poisoning by nux vomica, death may occur within two hours. Christion mentions a case in which a man died in fifteen minutes after taking

a dose. This is probably the shortest period known. The longest at which death has occurred was six hours after administration poison. The editor met with a case where death occurred in five and a half. (C. C. C., Reg. v. Barlow, 1875; see Rep. of Tria Murder by Poisoning, by Browne and Stewart, p. 268.)

Vermin and Insect-killers.-Although it is difficult to procure nine at a druggist's shop, the poison is extensively sold to the pu threepenny and sixpenny packets, under the name of Vermin-killers Butler's Vermin-killer consists of a mixture of flour, soot, and s nine. The author found the sixpenny packet to weigh about a dr and to contain from two to three grains of strychnine. As the po mechanically mixed with the other ingredients (flour and coloring ma and is probably manufactured on a large scale, the proportion of s nine is liable to variation. The threepenny packet contains about ha above quantity of strychnine, but this is quite sufficient to destroy th of an adult. In place of soot, Prussian blue is sometimes used as a ing substance. The editor finds that there are two kinds of Butler's min-killer in commerce: in one the poisonous ingredient is carbon barium, and in the other strychnine. A sixpenny packet of the weighed forty-two grains, and yielded two grains and a quarter of st nine. Another sixpenny packet weighed sixty-two grains, and cont one grain and three-quarters of strychnine. Battle's Vermin-kille powder similar to that of Butler's, containing a fatal proportion of st nine as it is sold in packets. The editor found a threepenny pac Battle's Vermin-killer to weigh twelve grains, and to contain one and a quarter of strychnine; and a sixpenny packet weighed twent grains, and contained two grains and a half of strychnine. These pov are a fertile source of poisoning, either through accident or design; are openly sold by ignorant people to others still more ignorant, an much used for suicidal purposes. Artificial ultramarine has been times improperly used instead of Prussian blue or indigo for col vermin-killers. A powder of this kind is prepared in Bristol. Sinc color of the powder is at once discharged by any acid (such as that o gastric juice and ordinary articles of food), the recognition of su powder may entirely fail. The editor has met with a red vermin-kill commerce, containing 50 per cent. of strychnine, colored with fom cent. of vermilion. Red strychnine-the crystals of the alkaloid st ficially colored by a secret trade process-is expressly made for the South Wales market; and, in 1884, a quantity of this colored strycl found its way into English commerce. Arsenic and strychnine are together in some vermin-killers.

Chemical Analysis.— Nux vomica is well known as a flat, round ke about the size of a shilling, with radiating silky fibres, slightly ra in the centre. It is of a light-brown color, and covered with fines fibres (see Figs. 26 and 27, p. 219). It is very hard, brittle, tough, difficult to pulverize. The powder is of a gray-brown color, like the liquorice, and has an intensely bitter taste; it is sometimes met with coarsely rasped state. It yields to water and alcohol, strychnine, brue and some other vegetable substances. Heated on platinum-foil, it b with a yellow smoky flame. Nitric acid turns it of a dark orange color, which is destroyed by stannous chloride. These properties sufficient to distinguish it from various medicinal powders which in sembles in color; but the presence of any silky hairs or fibres revealed the microscope (Fig. 28) would at once distinguish it from all o powders. They may be obtained from the contents of the stomach or