$86 Analyses of Books, [May, 



Caustic potash and soda are not less corrosive than the concen- 

 trated acids; hence, when introduced into the stomach, they act 

 with equal violence, and very speedily destroy life. The best anti- 

 dote is vinegar, administered in such quantity as to neutralize the 

 alkali. 



Ammonia likewise acts with considerable violence upon the 

 animal economy when swallowed, and produces convulsions and 

 death. Vinegar answers equally well as an antidote against ammo- 

 nia as against the fixed alkalies. 



Barytes, carbonate of baryfes, and muriate of barytes, are known 

 to act as violent poisons when introduced into the stomach. The 

 effects which they produce are similar to those produced by the 

 other corrosive poisons. An alkaline sulphate by converting the 

 barytes into an insoluble sulphate, which does not act upon the 

 human body, is the best antidote against this poison. 



Lime is not a very energetic poison, yet when swallowed In con- 

 siderable quantities, it destroys life by the inflammation which it 

 induces in the stomach. The same mode of treatment answers for 

 lime that was recommended in the case of poison by the fixed 

 alkalies. 



Phosphorus, when introduced into the stomach, always proves 

 fatal. It is gradually converted into phosphorous and phosphoric 

 acids, which corrode the stomach and intestines, and produce in- 

 ^flammation. The object of tlie pliysician should be to throw the 

 phosphorus out of the stomach as speedily as possible by means of 

 an emetic. V\'hen the pl»o?phorus lias been introduced in tiie state 

 of extreme division it is useful to make the patient swallow large 

 quantities of water, holding magnesia in suspension. The liquid, 

 by tilling tiie stomisch, prevents the phosphorus from being readily 

 converted into an acid, and the magnesia neutralizes any acid that 

 may be formed. 



M. Orfila introduces pounded glass and stone-ware among the 

 number of poisons. He gives a number of cases in wliich these 

 substances were swallowed without any inconvenience, and others 

 in which they produced destructive effects. It is obvious that these 

 substances act only nieciianically. It must depend upon accident 

 whether any of their sharp points wound any part of the stonmch 

 and intestines, or whether they make their way without inflicting 

 any wound. 



' Cant luni ties, lytta vcsicator'ia. or Spanish Jiies, are a set of in- 

 sects well known in the materia medica, as they constitute the 

 essential ingredient in the common bl.stering plaster. Cantharides, 

 according to the analysis of M. Rohiquet, contain a variety of dif- 

 ferent substances ; but the most important is a white substance, 

 having the form of small crystalline plates, insohil)le in water, 

 soluble in boiling alcolxil ; l)ut is depo-itcd on cocding in small 

 crystalline plates lik^ s|>ermaiefi, Ji is so'uMe in ods. Jt pos- 

 sesses the blisn-ring proper' v in great perleclion, and is the only 

 fiubsiauce in cantharides thut bus i*. 



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