STRYCHNOS NfX-VOMICA. 



STUHM'S THKOKEM. 



Nifl 



:me successful, as is also ice applied along the spine. Conium 

 or iU tincture offer* probable menus of antagonizing the action of 

 strychnia, an luggested by Dr. Pereira. It is said that the leave* of 

 the Fatillta rordifvlia furniah an antidote to nux-vomica and several 

 other vegetable poison*. It must ever bo remembered that the danger 

 is not entirely removed, though the spasm* may have imbaided, and 

 the inspiration become easy. Inflammation of the stomach may super- 

 vene, which will require the usual treatment, or secondary asphyxia 

 may steal on, and destroy the patient To prevent this hut occurrence, 

 great watchfulness is necessary, especially during the night, and the 

 patient should be frequently awakened, and made to drink freely of 

 green tea. But perhaps the most potent and efficient antidote to the 

 other poisonous strychnia* would be the ur.iri poison of South America, 

 as suggested by Mr. Morgan. (See Morgan's 'Lecture on Tetanus,' 

 p. 31.) The preparation of this substance, which has been an object of 

 curiosity and interest since the time of Sir Walter Kaleigh, has been 

 fully detailed by Sir Robert Schomburgk. (' Annals of Natural History,' 

 vol. vii.) It is an article of much importance to the natives of Guiana, 

 as much of their means of subsistence depends upon their possessing 

 this poison, in which to dip their arrow* for the chase. The chief, if 

 not the only, active ingredient is the Slrycknoi tori f era (Schom.), and 

 perhaps, in some places, Strychaot cogent (Bentbam), the other ingre- 

 dient* (most of which are obtained from climbing plants, lianos, or 

 " nebbees," except one bulbous plant, a cissus, and another supposed 

 to belong to the Xant/ioxi/le<r) are used only to bring the juice to a 

 proper degree of consistency and adhesiveness. Arrows dipped in it 

 have been known to retain their poisonous properties for twenty-seven 

 years, (llilf, in ' Medical Gazette,' vol. xx., p. 261.) The poison when 

 inspissated may be rendered liquid by heat, and is soluble in water, in 

 alcohol, in hydrochloric acid, and in volatile alkaline spirit. It unites 

 with acids without commotion or change of colour. If it be united 

 with alkalies, no ebullition is observable, but it changes its colour from 

 a dark brown to a yellowish-brown. It possesses a remarkable influence 

 over the blood after it is taken from a vein. " A few grains, mixed 

 with as many ounces of human blood warm from the veins, entirely 

 prevents a separation of serum and crassamentum, and the whole mass 

 continues in a state of fluidity similar to that in which it was drawn, 

 until, after some days, it putrifies." (Bancroft.) This property seems 

 to point out the propriety of employing it in cholera, in which the 

 separation of the serum from the crassamentmn, while the blood is 

 yet in the body, is one of the most remarkable symptoms of that 

 disease. Dr. Hancock is of opinion that it is one of the most potent 

 sedatives in nature, and, could it be safely managed, he had no 

 doubt it might become a valuable remedial agent in the treat- 

 ment of spasmodic or convulsive disorders. Its taste is an agreeable 

 bitter, and it has a tonic and febrifuge effect, frequently proving a 

 valuable cure in intermittent*. It, as well as the venom of the viper, 

 seems to be disarmed of its virulence by undergoing the process of 

 digestion. 



On account of the difficulty of preparing the alcoholic extract of 

 niLr-romtro of uniform strength, strychnia, or some of its soluble salts, 

 is now generally substituted for it, as these admit of easy subdivision 

 of the dose. Sulphate of strychnia has been used in some cases with 

 great advantage (See Gaskoin, in ' Med. Gaz./ vol. x., p. 316) ; so also 

 the acetate ; but a form of preparation which has proved of service in 

 some long-standing and almost hopeless cases of paralysis, is the hydrio- 

 date of strychnia. (See Magendie, ' Formulaire.') Phosphate is also 

 used ; and in Germany nitrate is much used. 



Care must be taken that the strychnia be pure, as a spurious article 

 is vended in France, which contains no trace of strychnia. Bichloride 

 of mercury is a good test for strychnia, but it causes no precipitate 

 from the solution of the. acetate of strychnia; but the addition of 

 hydrochloric acid causes a white crystalline precipitate. Sulpho- 

 cyanodide of potassium appears to be the best test for strychnia. (See 

 ' British Annals of Medicine,' vol. i , p. 190.) 



Strychnia i* prepared either from the wux-romica seeds, in which 

 case it i* difficult and expensive to separate it from the brucia, or it is 

 obtained from the St. Ignatius bean, in which it exists in about three 

 times larger quantity than in nux-romica. It is also, but rarely, pro- 

 cured from the Stryc/tnot Colubrina. The purest and most easily 

 obtained is furnished by the Xlrychnos Tieuti, but the rarity of this 

 substance i* a practical obstacle to ite employment. Igasurina will 

 probably be found to act like the others, but more mildly. 



Fnatt-mod. Many substances, in countries infested with serpents, 

 are reputed to be efficacious in counteracting the poisonous bites of 

 these reptiles : one of the most celebrated of these i* the root of the 

 Hriirhuot Colubrina. The strychnia probably acts as an antagonist to 

 the stupifying effects of the poison of the snake, just as arsenic does to 

 the poison of the Coluber carinatui of the West Indies. [ARBK.Nic.j 



Strychnia pulatiirum, called also 5. Tettan Cottay, or Clearing-nut, is a 

 native of India, and is a larger tree than any other species. It is devoid 

 of noxious properties. The fruit, though when very young it is made 

 into a preserve, and eaten, is reckoned emetic by the native doctors. 

 The chief ue made of it is to rub the seeds hard round the inside 

 of an earthen pot, into which water is poured, and in a short time 

 it becomes clear, tasteless, and wholesome, however muddy, brackish, 

 or putrid it may have been : hence its name of clearing-nut. Officers 

 and soldier*, before setting off on a march, p^ide themselves with a 



.store of these, as water purified by such means is deemed more whole- 

 some than that clarified by alum. 



>'/ryrAiM pteudo-rhiiiu. Quina do Campo, or Field China, is a native 

 of Brazil (St Hilaire, ' Plantes Usuelles de BrAul,' t. 1), and is devoid 

 of strychnia or brucia. It is a remedy of the Scrtaneias, being pecu- 

 liarly fitted for those cases to which the true cinchonas are unsuitable. 

 The taste is at first faintly aromatic, then astringent, and at last 

 slightly bitter. It has no odour. In its properties it resembles quassia, 

 tnenyanthes, or gentian more than the true cinchonas, with none of 

 which, except the humalia bark, could it readily be confounded in its 

 physical characters. Mr. Burchell says, however, that even in the 

 proper localities of the cinchonas many strychni are collected. 

 [CINCHONA, in NAT. HIST. Div., coL 1081.] 



STUCCO. A name sometimes, though incorrectly, applied to all 

 descriptions of lime or cement renderings on masonry, whether 

 external or internal, but which is really given by builders to a species 

 of plastering, in ordinary cases worked up by hand to a fine face 

 adapted to receive paint ; or in superior buildings made by the addition 

 of other materials than the lime, or plaster, usually employed, in order 

 to resemble marble. Common stucco, in fact, is nothing more than 

 plastering which has received an additional amount of manipulation ; 

 marble stucco is made with fine lime (composed of the pure hydrate 

 of that base) mixed with calcareous powder, chalk, or other analogous 

 substances in such proportions and worked in such manner as to pro- 

 duce a hard, uniform surface, which admits of being coloured, painted, 

 and polished so as to represent valuable marbles. It is employed in 

 decorative architecture to cover columns, pilasters, walls, cornices, 

 plinths, &c., in sheltered or covered positions : in external works, the 

 natural or the artificial calcareous cements, or the oleaginous cements, 

 are employed for this purpose a distinction unknown by the Italians 

 who first used the " stucca tura," from whence we have derived the 

 art, and the name, of the fine plastering used by us exclusively for 

 decorative and internal works. 



Uniform marble stucco is prepared by mixing pounded white 

 Carrara marble, or gypsum in the form of the white^alabaster, with 

 rich lime carefully slaked and run through a sieve, and the mixture 

 is trowelled on to a rough rendering coat until the surface is perfectly 

 even and homogeneous. Different colours are communicated by the 

 addition of the metallic oxides, and when very delicate tints are 

 required plaster mixed or gauged with water containing size, fish-glue, 

 or gum arable, is substituted for the hydrate of lime. The polishing 

 is only commenced when the surface is perfectly dry, and it is effected 

 by the use of fine grits, tripoli powder, chalk, and oil ; very much in 

 trie same manner that marble is polished. Scagliola is executed with 

 the same class of materials as the marble stuccos ; but small splinters 

 (or teaffiioU) of the marble desired to be imitated, should the latter 

 present much variety of effect, are introduced iu the finishing coats. 

 Of late years.the Keene's and the Parian cements have been exclusively 

 used in London, instead of the ancient marble stuccos. 



STURM'S THEOREM, There is a branch of the theory of 

 equations, containing the celebrated theorems of Descartes, Fourier, 

 and Sturm, which it is advisable to place in an article by itself, and the 

 present heading has been chosen because Sturm's theorem is at once 

 the most conclusive and the latest of the three. It has long Ixvu a 

 problem of much interest and notoriety to find, in a given equation, 

 how many roots, if any, are contained between two given limits ; how 

 many roots are positive, how many negative, how many imaginary. 



The first step toward* the solution of the preceding problem was 

 made by Descartes, though it is asserted by Cossali and Libri, that 

 Cardan came very near to the same step. Cossali, after collecting 

 a table of Cardan's cases, and putting them in a form which Cardan 

 did not use (an equation with on the second side), then says that an 

 analyst who should look at this table would be able to rise to Des- 

 cartes's theorem. This is true enough, but it does not prove that 

 Cardan either could or did make the invention, but the contrary. All 

 the world knows that mathematical discoveries are recognised often 

 enough by analysts of a later day, in rudiments from which the fabri- 

 cators of them could evolve nothing. 



The theorem of Descartes, expressed in his own words, is as follows 

 (' Geometria," lib. iii.) : " Ex quibus etiam cognoscitur, quot veno ct 

 quot falsa; radices in unaquaque ^Equatione haberi possint. Nimirum, 

 tot in ea veras haberi posse, quot variationes reperiuntur signorum + 

 et ; et tot falsas quot vicibus ibidem deprehenduntur duo signa + , 

 vel duo signa , qua; se iuvicem sequuntur." That is, that an 

 equation may have as many positive roots as there are changes of 

 sign in passing from term to term, and as many negative roots as 

 there are continuations of sign; but not more of either kind. It 

 has been doubted whether Descartes knew the true meaning of his 

 own theorem as to the case of imaginary roots ; this doubt is as early 

 as the time of Descartes himself, who replies in a letter which we 

 cannot find by means of Rabuel's reference to it. This is however of 

 little consequence, as the following sentence (also from the Geometry) 

 shows in what manner Descartes understood his own words : 

 " Cceterum radices tarn verse quam falsa; non semper sunt reales, sed 

 aliquando tantum imaginarkc ; hoc est, semper quidem in qualibet 

 .'Equatione tot radices quot dixi, imaginari licet ; veruni nulla inter- 

 dum et quantitas qua; illis, quos imaginamur, respondet." It would 

 seem then that Descartes not only remembered the limitation of the 



