29 



NOTES ON A CASE OF POISONING THEOUGH 



EATING A POETION OF THE " BRUGMANSIA." 



By De. Haedt. 



The case which I bring before you is one of poisoning 

 through eating a portion of the common trumpet flower 

 (Brugmansia) now shown to you. 



This plant belongs to the order of solanacise and is there- 

 fore allied to a number of others which are recognised as poisons 

 for example : stramonium, belladona, tobacco, also potato and 

 tomato. These latter being classed as poisons appear at first 

 sight contradictory, but although the tuber of the potato is 

 wholesome when cooked, the leaves and other parts of the 

 plant are poisonous. 



Stramonium and belladonna, although in common use as 

 medicines, are highly dangerous if taken in improper 

 doses. 



The potato is a powerful narcotic and has been used in 

 rheumatism, while henbane is in common use as a sedative in 

 irritable conditions of the brain. 



With these introductory remarks I will narrate the case m 

 question : — 



On Thursday last a child, aged 2, after having a good dinner 

 and appearing in perfect health in all respects, ate a portion of 

 a trumpet lily, which had been picked in the garden of a 

 gentleman living in this town. Within a short time symptoms 

 manifested themselves, and I was called in to what the 

 messenger described as a case of convulsions. 



On examining the child I was struck by certain peculiarities 

 in the symptoms unlike those of ordinary convulsions. The 

 child's face and greater portions of the body were red, the eyes 

 staring and the pupils widely dilated, the head and shoulders 

 bent back, and the position almost that usually seen in tetanus 

 or lockjaw ; the feet pointing inwards and the great toes drawn 

 up and stifi", an appearance of fear in the face and starting at 

 times as if afraid of falling off the nurse's knee and finally 

 arms moving irregularly, power of co-ordination partly 

 lost, and the hands picking at imaginary objects. I 

 was struck by the resemblance to a case of poisoning in a 

 child by drinMng some belladonna liniment, which I attended 

 some 8 or 10 years ago, and so questioned the mother as to 

 whether any medicines of any kind had been lying about. 



