358 



THE PRESERVATION OF HEALTH 



POISONS 



Putrefactive Poisons 

 Foods which have 

 begun t o decay 

 sometimes give 

 rise to deadly poi- 

 sons. These most 

 often appear in 

 meat, sausage, and 

 cheese; while a 

 particular poison 

 called tyrotoxicon 

 is developed in 

 milk, ice cream, 

 etc., which have 

 stood long in ves- 

 sels not kept per- 

 fectly clean, or 

 in rooms where 

 germs of decay 

 exist as from 

 decaying wood. 



SYMPTOMS 



TREATMENT 



Animal Poisons 

 Snake bites 



Symptoms vary 

 greatly. There is, 

 usually, pain in the 

 digestive organs; 

 sometimes vomiting 

 and purging, fol- 

 lowed by weakness. 



Local pain and swell- 

 ing, followed by 

 great weakness, diz- 

 ziness, blood poison- 

 ing; sometimes 

 death. 



f Give mild emetic 

 mustard or pow- 

 dered alum in warm 

 water then vine-- 

 gar and water. 

 Castor oil may be 

 given to empty the 

 intestines. 



Apply tight ligature 

 between the wound 

 and the heart. Open 

 the wound and wash 

 with solution of 

 permanganate of 

 potassium; or the 

 poison may be 

 drawn out by suck- 

 ing with the mouth 

 or with a cupping 

 glass. In severe 

 cases the wound 

 should b e burned 

 with hot iron or 

 caustic. Give stimu- 

 lants to support the 

 system. 



