33° 



ACCIDENTS AND INJURIES. 



tearing pains in both stomach and bowels, 

 •sickness, and vomiting of various colored 

 fluids, and sometimes bloody and profuse 

 diarrhoea, with difficulty and pain in uri- 

 nating; pulse quick, small and hard; 

 faint sensations, great debility, difficult 

 breathing, cramps, cold sweats, syncope 

 nad convulsions. 



Treatment. — If vomiting does not al- 

 ready exist, emetics must be given imme- 

 diately, albumen of eggs in continuous 

 large doses, and infusion of catechu af- 

 terwards, sweet milk, mixtures of flour 

 and water in successive cupfuls, and to 

 check excessive salivation put a half 

 ounce of chlorate of potash in a tumbler 

 of water, and use freely as a gargle, and 

 swallow a tablespoonful every hour or 

 two. 



MONKSHOOD.— See Arnica. 



MORPHINE.— See Opium. 



NITRATE OF SILVER (Lunar Caustic.) 



Symptoms. — Intense pain and vomit- 

 ing and purging of blood ; mucus and 

 sheds of mucous membranes; and if 

 these stand they become dark. 



Treatment. — Give freely of a solution 

 of common salt in water, which decom- 

 poses the poison, and afterwards flax- 

 seed or elm bark tea, and after a while a 

 dose of castor oil. 



NTJX VOMICA.— See Strychnine. 



OPIUM and all its Preparations — Mor- 

 phine, Laudanum, Paregoric, etc. 



Symptoms. — Giddiness, drowsiness, in- 

 creasing to stupor, and insensibility; 

 pulse usually, at first, quick and irregular, 

 and breathing hurried, and afterwards 

 pulse slow and feeble and respiration slow 

 and noisy ; the pupils are contracted, and 

 the eyes and face congested, and later, as 

 death approaches, the extremities become 

 cold, the surface is covered with cold, 

 clammy perspiration, and the sphincters 

 relax. The effects of opium and its prep- 

 arations, in poisonous doses, appear in 

 from a half to two hours from its admin- 

 istration. 



Treatment. — Empty the stomach im- 

 mediately with an emetic or with the 

 stomach pump. Then give very strong 

 coffee without milk ; put mustard plasters 

 on the wrists and ankles; use the cold 

 douche to the head and chest, and if the 

 patient is cold and sinking give brandy, 

 or whisky and ammonia. Belladonna is 

 thought by many to counteract the poi- 



sonous effects of opium, and may be 

 given in doses of half to a tea-spoonful 

 of the tincture, or two grains of the 

 extract, every twenty minutes, until some 

 effect is observed in causing the pupils to- 

 expand. Use warmth and friction, and 

 if possible prevent sleep for some hours, 

 for which purpose the patient should be 

 walked about between two persons, and if 

 necessary a bunch of switches may be 

 freely used. Finally, as a last resort, use 

 artificial respiration, and a persistence in 

 it will sometimes be rewarded with suc- 

 cess in apparently hopeless cases. Gal- 

 vanism should also be tried. 



OXALIC ACID.— See Acids. 



PHOSPORUS— Found in Lucifer Match- 

 es and some Rat Poisons. 



Symptoms. — Symptoms of irritant poi- 

 soning; pain in the stomach and bowels; 

 vomiting ; diarrhoea ; tenderness and ten- 

 sion of the abdomen. 



Treatment. — An emetic is to be 

 promptly given; copious draughts con- 

 taining magnesia in suspension; mucilag- 

 inous drinks. General treatment for in- 

 flammatory symptoms. 



POISONOUS FISH. 



Symptoms. — In an hour or two — often 

 in much shorter time — after the fish has 

 been eaten, a weight at the stomach 

 comes on, with slight vertigo and head- 

 ache ; sense of heat about the head and 

 eyes; considerable thirst, and often an 

 eruption of the skin. 



Treatment. — After full vomiting, an 

 active purgative should be given to re- 

 move any of the noxious matter from the 

 intestines. Vinegar and water may be 

 drunk after the above remedies have op- 

 erated, and the body may be sponged 

 with the same. Water made very sweet 

 with sugar, with aromatic spirits of am- 

 monia added, may be drunk freely as a 

 corrective. A solution of chlorate of 

 potash, or of alkali, the latter weak, may 

 be given to obviate the effects of the poi- 

 son. If spasms ensue after evacuation, 

 laudanum in considerable doses is nec- 

 essary. If inflammation should occur, 

 combat in the usual way. 



POISONOUS MUSHROOMS. 



Symptoms. — Nausea, heat and pains in 

 the stomach and bowels; vomiting and 

 purging; thirst; convulsions and faint- 

 ings ; pulse small and frequent ; dilated 

 pupil and stupor ; cold sweaths and death.. 



