248 FLORA HOMCOPATHICA. 
In large or poisonous doses.—The following cases will exemplify 
its action, which (as in all other medicinal or poisonous effects of 
plants on the human organism) are peculiarly interesting to the 
homeopathist. 
“Dr. W. Henry was called, in October, 1809, to assist a 
female, an out-patient of the Manchester Infirmary, labouring 
under dropsy, who had taken an overdose of decoction of Fox- 
glove. It was prepared by boiling two handfuls of the leaves 
in a quart of water, and then pressing the mass so as to expel 
the whole of the liquor. Of this, at seven a.m., she drank two 
teacupfuls, amounting in the whole to not less than ten ounces 
by measure. Before eight she began to be sick, and vomited 
part of the contents of her stomach. Enough, however, was 
retained to excite vomiting and retching throughout the whole 
of that and the following day, during which everything that 
was taken was instantly rejected. In the intervals of sickness 
she was excessively faint, and her skin was covered with a cold 
sweat. ‘The tongue and the lips swelled, and there was a con- 
tinual flow of viscid saliva from the mouth. Very little urine 
was voided on the day she took the Digitalis, and on the follow- 
ing days the action of the kidneys was entirely suspended. 
When Dr. Henry saw her, which was forty-eight hours after 
she had taken the poison, the tongue was white, the ptyalism 
continued, though in a less degree, and the breath was fetid. 
The pulse was low, irregular (not exceeding forty), and after 
every third or fourth pulsation, an intermission occurred for 
some seconds. She complained also of general pains in the 
limbs, and cramps in the legs. By the use of effervescing 
draughts, and ether, with ammonia, she gradually recovered 
her imperfect health. Dr. Henry remarks that she had not 
2 taken any mercury, and that the ptyalism was entirely the 
effect of Digitalis” (Edin. Med. and Surg. Jour., vol. viii. p. 148). 
Six ounces of a strong decoction were taken as a laxative 
aes early i in the ‘morning. Vomiting, colic, and purging were the 
_— fom artisans towards the afternoon lethargy super remy? 
