SECTION XV. 
SYMPTOMS AND TREATMENT OF POISONING. 
CHAPTER I. 
ESSENTIAL PRECAUTIONS. 
Penaties having been fixed for his crime, some protection against the 
dog poisoner has been afforded in most civilized communities, but he has not 
been stamped out of existence. Cases of purely accidental poisoning also now 
and then occur. Considering the unfortunate conditions still existing, the 
reader should be fortified with at least a fair general knowledge of poisons, 
the symptoms they excite, and the agents required to counteract their baneful 
effects. 
The author duly appreciates that only by years of patient study and experi- 
ence can there be acquired a perfect familiarity with the properties of medi- 
cines, the diseases to which they are respectively applicable, and their 
adaptability to the peculiarities of the individuals. He also recognizes the 
fact that, as a rule, some danger.is to be apprehended when those who have 
not had such acquaintance undertake their use; yet in his consideration of the 
various diseases, he has endeavored to clearly define the medicinal and other 
treatment required in each; and he trusts that by careful and painstaking 
handling of his subjects all possibility of his readers straying and making 
harmful mistakes have been obviated. Nevertheless he would urge the seem- 
ing paradox that all powerful drugs, while capable of great good, may still be 
productive of the most harmful results. In other words, all such agents under 
certain conditions are poisons. They ought not, therefore, to be trifled with; 
and the directions given herein should be invariably followed. Then, and then 
only, can the medicines advised be administered with absolute safety. 
To encourage care and accuracy, and thereby lessen the liability of acci- 
dental poisoning, the following general rules are laid down: 
No one who cannot read should ever be permitted to pour out a dose of 
medicine if there is more than one bottle of drugs in use. 
All bottles containing poisonous agents should be labeled Pozson; and the 
same label should be on bottles which contain strong medicines designed for 
external use only. 
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