POISON 



265 



point to monkshood, tobacco, and poisonous mush- 

 rooms. Sometimes the more violent of the poisons 

 here classed as irritants are made into a separate 

 group Corrosives ; the narcotics are put under the 

 Head Neurotics; and the gaseous poisons are treated 

 :LS a separate class. 



Under the head of Irritant Poisons may be 

 included ( 1 ) Mineral Acids, as sulphuric, nitric, 

 ami hydrochloric acids ; vegetable acids, and some 

 of their salts, as oxalic acid, binoxalate of potash, 

 and tartaric acid ( in doses of half an ounce or more ) ; 

 the alkalies, as pearl-ash (carbonate of potash), 

 soap lees (carbonate of soda), ammonia and its 

 sesquicarbonate in strong solution ; and metallic 

 compounds, as white arsenic (arsenious acid), 

 yellow arsenic (orpiment), corrosive sublimate, 

 pernitrate and other salts of mercury, acetate of 

 lead (sugar of lead) in doses of an ounce and 

 upwards, sulphate of copper (blue vitriol), sub- 

 acetate of copper (verdigris), arsenite of copper 

 (commonly known as Scheele's green or emerald 

 green, which has been employed under the name 

 of extract of spinach for colouring confectionery ), 

 tartarated antimony, chloride of antimony- ( butter 

 of antimony), chloride of zinc (Sir W. Burnett's 

 Fluid), nitrate of silver (lunar caustic), sulphate 

 of iron (copperas or green vitriol), and bichromate 

 of potash; (2) Vegetable Sulmtances viz. colo- 

 cynth and gamboge in large doses, savin, croton- 

 oil, elateriuin, &c. ; and (3) Animal Substances, 

 such as cantharides, to which must be added the 

 occasional cases in which sausages, and certain 

 fish and molluscs, usually quite innocuous, act 

 as irritant poisons. The Narcotic Poisons include 

 opium, hydrocyanic (or prussic) acid, cyanide of 

 potassium, henbane, alcohol, ether, chloral, and 

 chloroform. The Narcotico-irritant Poisons include 

 mix vomica, meadow satfron (Colchicum), white 

 hellebore, foxglove, common hemlock, water hem- 

 lock (Cicuta virosa), hemlock water-dropwort 

 ((Enanthe crocata), fool's parsley, thorn-apple, 

 mimkshood or aconite, deadly nightshade, tobacco, 

 Indian tobacco (Lobelia inflata), the bark and 

 seeds of the common laburnum, the berries and 

 leaves of the yew-tree, and certain kinds of fungi. 



The cases in which there are antidotes qualitied 

 to neutralise chemically the action of the poison are 

 few in number. For the mineral acids chalk 

 or magnesia in water must be used, with the 

 view of neutralising them, after which milk should 

 be given freely. The alkalies and their carbonates 

 must be neutralised by vinegar and water, or lemon- 

 juice mixed with water, after which milk should be 

 given. For oxalic acid the antidote is chalk or 

 magnesia in water, by which an insoluble oxalate 

 of lime or magnesia is formed. For arsenic the 

 hydrated peroxide of iron has been regarded as an 

 antidote, out its elficacy is doubtful. Vomiting 

 should l>e excited by the administration of a scruple 

 of sulphate of zinc in warm water, and, after the 

 stomach has been well cleared out, demulcent Huids, 

 such as Hour and water or milk, should be given. 

 Corrosive sublimate combines with albumen ( white 

 of egg), and forms an insoluble inert mass ; nitrate 

 of silver is nentralised by chloride of sodium (com- 

 mon gait) dissol ved in water; tartarated antimony 

 is to a great degree rendered inert by the adminis- 

 tration of decoction of bark or gall-nuts ; and 

 acetate of lead is rendered inert by the administra- 

 tion of sulphate of magnesia, which converts it into 

 an insoluble sulphate of lead. In all cases of sus- 

 pected poisoning, in which the nature of the poison 

 is not known, the safest course is at once to produce 

 vomiting by sulphate of zinc, or in its absence by a 

 dessert-spoonful of flour of mustard suspended in 

 tepid water, arid to continue the vomiting till all 

 the contents of the stomach are discharged, after 

 which rnilk should lie given freely. 



Most of the known gases have a poisonous action 

 when inhaled into the lungs ; in these cases death 

 may be due simply to suffocation or to a specific 

 action of the gas. Carbonic Acid (q.v. ), although 

 seldom employed as an instrument of murder, is a 

 frequent cause of accidental death, arid in France 

 is a common means of self-destruction. It is 

 established by numerous experiments that air con- 

 taining more than one-tenth of its volume of car- 

 bonic acid will, if inhaled, destroy life in man and 

 the higher animals ; when diluted with two or more 

 volumes of air it can be breathed, and produces 

 symptoms of vertigo and somnolency, and so great 

 a loss of muscular power that the individual, if in 

 an erect or sitting position, falls as if struck to the 

 ground. The respiration, whioh at first is difficult 

 and stertorous, l>ecomes suspended. The action of 

 the heart is at first violent, but soon ceases, sensi- 

 bility is lost, anil the person now falls into a coma- 

 tose or death-like state. Those who have been 

 resuscitated usually feel pain in the head and 

 general soreness of the body for some days, and in 

 a few severe cases paralysis of the muscles of the 

 face has remained. The patient must, of course, 

 be at once removed from the poisonous atmosphere, 

 after which artificial respiration should be had 

 recourse to. If the skin is warm cold water may 

 be poured on the head and spine ; while if the sur- 

 face be cold a warm bath should be employed. 

 When respiration is re-established venesection will 

 often relieve the congestion of the vessels of the 

 brain. The inhalation of oxygen gas is said to 

 have been of service in these cases. Carbonic oxide 

 is also an active poison, and is present in coal-gas 

 and in charcoal fumes. Both carbonic acid and 

 carbonic oxide act as powerful narcotics. The fatal 

 power of ordinary coal-gas as an asphyxiant and irri- 

 tant is probably due to the carbonic oxide present ; 

 the post-mortem appearances are very similar 

 in cases of poisoning by coal-gas and by carbonic 

 oxide. Svljtltttretteti hydrogen, which occurs abund- 

 antly in foul drains, sewers, cesspools, &c. , is a. 

 gaseous poison whose effects are often noticed. 

 Nothing certain is known of the smallest propor- 

 tion of this gas required to destroy human life ; 

 but air containing only J 5 thof its volume of this 

 gas will destroy a dog ; and when the gas exist* 

 in the proportion of ufatli it will kill a horse. 

 During the construction of the Thames Tunnel 

 the men engaged in the work suffered severely 

 from the presence of this gas, which was probably 

 derived from the action of the water on the iron 

 pyrites in the clay, and which issued in sudden 

 bursts from the walls. By respiring this atmosphere 

 the strongest and most robust men were in the 

 course of a few months reduced to an extreme state 

 of exhaustion, and several died. The symptoms 

 with which they were first affected were giddiness, 

 sickness, and general debility ; they became ema- 

 ciated, and fell into a state of low fever accompanied 

 by delirium. In this case the dilution was extreme ; 

 when the gas is breathed in a more concentrated 

 form the person speedily falls, apparently lifeless. 

 It appears to act as a narcotic poison when concen- 

 trated, but like a narcotico-irritant when much 

 diluted with air. The action of the vapour of 

 sulphide of ammonium, which is also commonly 

 present in cesspools, &c. , is probably much the 

 same as that of sulphuretted hydrogen. Many of 

 the gases which are only found as products of the 

 lalioratory are in the highest degree poisonous, as 

 arseninretted hydrogen ; but as few persons run the 

 risk of inspiring them it is unnecessary to enter 

 into details. 



In point of Law, the use of poison to kill or 

 injure a human being or certain animals renders 

 the poisoner amenable to the criminal courts. With 

 regard to the sale of poisons, the legislature founil 



