POISONS AND POISONING, 61 



Symptoms. — Severe gastroenteritis, colic, tympanites, diarrhea, 

 excessive urination, weakness, trembling, convulsions, collapse. 

 Treatment. — Same as for poisoning by common salt. 



POISONING BY COMMON SALT. 



A few pounds (3 to 5) of common salt will produce well-marked 

 signs of poisoning in cattle. So much salt as this will not be taken 

 by cattle except under unusual conditions. If the feed is poor in 

 salt, and if no salt has been given for a long time, an intense " salt 

 hunger" may occur that may lead an animal to eat a poisonous 

 quantity, or an overdose of salt may be given by error as a drench. In 

 order to prevent overeating of salt, it is doubtless better in salting cattle 

 to use rock salt rather than that in more or less finely divided form. 



Herring and mackerel brine and pork pickle are also poisonous, 

 and are especially dangerous for hogs. In these substances there 

 are, in addition to salt, certain products extracted from the fish or 

 meat which undergo change and add to the toxicity of the solution. 

 Sometimes saltpeter is present in such brines. 



Symptoms. — The symptoms are great thirst, abdominal pain, diar- 

 rhea, poor appetite, redness and dryness of the mouth, increased 

 urination, paralysis of the hind legs, weak pulse, general paralysis, 

 coma, and death in from six to eight hours. 



Treatment. — Allow as much warm water as the animal will drink ; 

 give protectives, such as linseed tea, etc. Linseed or olive oil may 

 be given. To keep up the heart action give ether, alcohol, camphor, 

 digitalis, or coffee. To allay pain, give opium. 



VEGETABLE POISONS. 



Vegetable poisons may be divided into two classes — those that 

 are likely to be administered to the animal as medicine, and such 

 as may be taken in the feed, either in the shape of poisonous plants 

 or as plants or feeds of vegetable origin that have been damaged 

 by fungi or bj^ bacteria which have produced fermentation or putre- 

 faction. 



VEGETABLE POISONS USED AS MEDICINE. 



OPIUM (MORPHIN, LAUDANUM) POISONING. 



Opium and its alkaloid, morphia, are so commonly used in the 

 practice of medicine that the poisonous result of an overdose is not 

 uncommon. The common preparations are gum opium, the inspis- 

 sated juice of the poppy; powdered opium, made from the gum; 

 tincture of opium, commonly called laudanum; and the alkaloid or 

 active principle, morphia. Laudanum has about one-eighth the 

 strength of the gum or powder. Morphia is present in good opium 

 to the extent of about 10 per cent. In medicine it is a most useful 

 agent in allaying pain. It first produces a stimulating action, 



