HOME HELPS. 829 



pleasant than otherwise to the palate ; but the poisonous 

 qualities of these things* operate by preventing digestion, 

 and they are removed with comparative ease from the 

 human stomach by the aid of warm water, mustard, salt 

 and water, or other emetic. The real poison plants have 

 generally a milky, bitter juice, disagreeable to both taste 

 and smell, and without exception it is very painful should 

 a drop get into a sore or the eye. Treat them as acids. 



Prompt action is everything in cases of accidental 

 poisoning. Seconds, not hours, are at our disposal to 

 apply a remedy, and in places where medical aid is not at 

 once obtainable, and where no other guide is handy, the 

 following may prove useful in case of emergency : 



Arsenic Paris green, green colourings, ague drops, 

 rat and dog poison, &c. Symptoms : Pain and burning 

 heat of stomach, dryness of throat, cramps, purging, and 

 vomiting. Treatment : Give large quantities of milk and 

 raw eggs, lime-water, or flour and water; then castor -oil. 



Strychnine Dog and rat poison, &c., nux vomica. 

 Symptoms : Twitching of the muscles, convulsions, lock- 

 jaw, or the body is bent backwards. Treatment : Try to 

 empty the stomach by an emetic, then give linseed-tea or 

 barley-water, and to an adult thirty drops of laudanum 

 occasionally to relieve the spasms. Hurry for a medical 

 man. 



Acids Oxalic, sulphuric (vitriol), nitric (aqua fortip), 

 muriatic (spiiit of salt), carbolic. Symptoms: Horrible 

 burning sour pain from the mouth downwards. The skin 

 of the lips, mouth and throat may be dissolved. Treat- 

 ment : Water or milk in quantity, carbonate of soda, 

 magnesia, whiting, chalk, or lime-water j or knock a piece 

 of plaster off the wall, pound it small, and give it in milk 

 or water. While one person attends to this, let another cut 

 some common soap into small bits, and give a teaspoonful 

 with water, or a tablespoonful of soft soap. 



Laudanum. Opium, paregoric, soothing syrup, syrup 

 of poppies, &c. Symptoms : Giddiness, stupour, the pupil 

 of the eye very small, lips blue, skin cold, heavy, slow 

 breathing. Treatment : Empty the stomach as quickly as 

 possible by vomiting ; hot water, mustard and water, salt, 



