POISONOUS PLANTS. 



POISONS ACTING ON THE BRAIN. 



I. 

 NARCOTICS. 



Sympioms.— Giddiness ; dimness of sight ; contracted pupils ; 

 headache ; noises in the ears ; confusion of ideas, and drowsi- 

 ness, passing into insensibility. 



Treatment. (Immediate :) 



Emetics (especially mustard, a tablespoonful in half a tumbler 



of warm water). 

 Stomach Tube. (Wash out at half-hourly intervals with Potash 



Permanganate solution B.P. diluted thiee times with 



warm water.) 

 Dash cold water on face and chest. Ammonia or Amyl 



Nitrite to nostrils. 



(Later :) 

 Tannin. (Hot, strong coffee, tea, or infusions of nut-galls or 



oak-bark.) 

 Strychnine solution B.P. two minims subcutaneously. 

 Atropine, half-a-grain subcutaneously, repeated if necessary. 



Faradic current. Oxygen. 

 Artificial respiration if necessary. 

 Demulcents. (Milk, eggs, oil, &c., swallowed and injected.) 



Note. — All vegetable poisons act more quickly on the empty 

 stomach: our treatment therefore is directed towards (i,) diluting 

 and evacuating the poison by means of washing out with warm 

 water containing powdered charcoal : (2,) neutralizing the poison 

 by means of an antidote such as Tannin. 



