43-5 
PHYSIOLOGICAL ACTION.—We have no accessible accounts of poisonings 
by this drug, still the provings, being made with goodly sized doses of the tinc- 
ture, are sufficient to give us an insight into. the physiological action. Aesculus 
hippocastanum causes inflammation of the mucous membranes of the respiratory 
and digestive tracts, and especially of the rectum ; this is shown in the following 
list of symptoms: Dryness, heat, burning and swelling of the mucous membranes 
of the nose, larynx, and trachea, with a subsequent copious catarrhal discharge ; 
the same symptoms prevail in the mouth and cesophagus, followed by profuse 
ptyalism and mucous discharge ; the tongue becomes coated with a thick white or 
yellow fur, and feels as if scalded; the throat becomes congested, raw, and burn- 
ing, followed by a sense of constriction, and renders deglutition painful and diffi- 
cult, Constant burning in the stomach and epigastrium, followed by nausea, retch- 
ing, and violent vomiting, with great tenderness and colic throughout the abdomen, 
are markedly present. Severe dryness, burning, and soreness of the rectum, with 
prolapse, and sufficient inflammation of the hemorrhoidal veins to result in purple 
tumors, indicate the severity of the action of the drug in this locality. Ineffectual 
efforts at stool, with great urging, and constant severe pain in the lumbar region, 
extending to the hips and sacrum, are constant symptoms of the drug. _ Its action 
upon the liver and portal system is marked by severe congestion, and attendant 
burning, constrictive pains and deep soreness. The provings, however, fail to 
substantiate its previous use in intermittent fever and neuralgia ; its febrile symp- 
toms being only slight, and its pains, other than those referable to the alimentary 
tract, slight and not characteristic of nerve irritation. 
DESCRIPTION OF PLATE 43- 
1. End of flowering branch from Ithaca, N. Y., June 4, 1880. 
2. A medium-size leaf. 
3. Flower. 
4. Stamen, 
5. Nut. 
(3 and 4 slightly enlarged.) 
i i ——— 
