THORN-APPLE. 349 



The effects of a poisonous dose on the human subject, are, flushed face, 

 great delirium and stupor, often accompanied with immoderate and inco- 

 herent talking, and the most absurd aud violent gestures ; to these may be 

 added, dilatation of the pupil, sometimes spasms and convulsions, and oc- 

 casionally palsy. It is also remarkable, that in some cases, symptoms 

 closely resembling those of hydrophobia, such as biting, foaming at the 

 mouth, and strangulation at the fauces, have been observed. " The most 

 complete account of the phenomena of poisoning with Stramonium, when 

 fatal, is given by Mr. Duffin. A child of his own, two years old, swallowed 

 about 100 seeds, without chewing them. Soon after she became fretful, 

 and like a person intoxicated ; in the course of an hour, efforts to vomit 

 ensued, together with flushed face, dilated pupils, incoherent talking, and 

 afterwards wild spectral illusions and furious delirium. In two hours and 

 a half she lost her voice and the power of swallowing, evidently owing to 

 spasms of the throat. Then croupy breathing and complete coma set in, 

 with violent spasmodic agitation of the limbs, occasional tetanic convulsions, 

 warm perspiration, and yet an imperceptible pulse. Subsequently, the 

 pulse became extremely rapid, the belly tympanitic, and the bladder para- 

 lysed, but with frequent involuntary stools, probably owing to the ad- 

 ministration of cathartics, and death took place in twenty-four hours. It 

 is remarkable, that no seeds were found in the intestinal canal after 

 death." * Dr. Hooker t, of America, relates a case in which an Irish family 

 consisting of five persons were poisoned by eating a quantity of the herb 

 boiled in mistake for greens, with corned beef. The family consisted of 

 Mr. T., his wife, and three children, the youngest about five years of age. 

 He writes, " I saw them about an hour after dinner ; the countenances 

 had a wild idiotic expression, — the pupils widely dilated, — the sensorial 

 functions perverted,— and the muscular system subject to an irregular 

 agitation. The appearance of the family was extremely ludicrous. The 

 children were laughing, crying, singing, dancing, and playing all imagin- 

 able antic pranks. They had no correct estimation of distances or the size 

 of objects, — were reaching their hands to catch hold of things across the 

 room, and again running against persons and things which they appeared 

 to view as distant. The nail-heads in the floor were pieces of money which 

 they eagerly tried to pick up. A boy, apparently fancying himself un- 

 dressed, caught a hat belonging to a student, thrust his foot into it, pulled 

 with both hands on the brim, and began to fret that he could not get into 

 it. The parents frequently called on the children to behave themselves, 

 but their own actions being equally eccentric, they afforded a ridiculous 

 exhibition of family government. Sulphate of zinc with ipecacuanha 

 brought from the stomach a large quantity of the herb, and under the use 

 of camphor, carbonate of ammonia, and a warm aromatic infusion, the 

 symptoms soon subsided." The attendant circumstances of the foregoing 

 case are interesting in a forensic point of view, but we have no^space for 



* Christison, /. c. from Med. Gazette, xv. p. 320. 

 f Boston Med. and Surg. Journal, Aug. 31, 1836. 



