PLANT (a) POISONING WITH DRUGS IN COMMON USE Opium, morphine, codeine. —The dose may be too large, the wrong medicine bottle used; decoctions of poppy are given by country people to quiet their children. Children tolerate very little opium.
coma, convulsions, vomiting, contracted pupil, small slow pulse, cool skin, fall of body temperature.
washing out of the stomach, internally, tannic acid in solution. Atropine (hypodermically to grain) is the physiological antagonist of opium; or small doses of the extract of belladonna may be given internally. Powerful excitants are required.
Santonin (chenopodium), so frequently employed as an anthel mintic, causes toxic symptoms in too large or too frequent doses.
headache, pallor, yellow vision, amaurosis, convulsions; the urine is colored yellow, becomes red when caustic soda is added.
Treatment. —Evacuation of stomach and intestines. Stimulate the heart. Control convulsions by chloroform or chloral.
mas, used to dislodge tapeworms, in poisonous dose causes severe pain, convulsions, dimness of vision. Treat like santonin poison ing. Do not give fat or oils.
(b) PLANT POISONS The hemlock Monium maculatum) plant resembles parsley some what; the roots, stems, and leaves are poisonous (especially in May) but the seeds are most toxic.
Symptoms.—Choleriform diarrhcea, convulsions and paralysis. Treatment. —Evacuate the gastro-intestinal tract. Lavage and saline injections. Stimulants.
The deadly nightshade (solanacea9 has marked toxic properties, due to the alkaloids atropine, hyoseyamine, scopolamine, etc., which it contains. The blossoms and berries of the belladonna plant, which resemble ordinary cherries and contain atropine, the black henbane (hyoscyanuna niger) and the thorn apple (datura stramoniuin) belong to this group.
The symptoms of poisoning with the plants mentioned appear very suddenly, especially in atropine poisoning. Marked dilation of the pupil makes its recognition easy. The marked rapidity of the pulse, the difficulty in swallowing, the loss of consciousness with delirium and convulsions complete the picture.
Treatment. —Removal of the poison from the body. Morphine and pilocarpine are antidotes.
The tobacco plant also belongs to the group of solanacex; acute nicotine poisoning most frequently follows the first use of tobacco by children (generally' in the form of cigarettes, cigars or pipe). Tobacco poisoning should be treated by emetics, milk diet and in severe cases by injections of morphine.
The foxglove (digitalis purpurea) on account of its beautiful color, tempts children to taste it. Poisoning may also follow the continued use of the drug in too large doses. The most prominent symptoms are irregular action of the heart and the dy-spncea which results.
The treatment must be symptomatic; we must always remember that preparations of digitalis inay have a cumulative action.
The coichicum plant contains colchicine which can enter the milk of nursing animals and so lead indirectly to poisoning. The symptoms are those of gastro-enteritis—eventually convulsions set in.
the removal of the drug the inflammation of the intestinal tract must be combated by opiates and suitable diet.