210 VETEEINAKY TOXICOLOGY 



black bryony or Tamus communis, which belongs to the 

 Dioscoridacece, and which probably contains the same or a 

 similar active principle. 



Bryonia dioica (Pig. 27) is a perennial climber common in 

 hedgerows in England, though not found in Scotland and 

 Ireland. It differs from Tamus in having leaves divided into 

 five or seven broad deep lobes, as compared with the entire 

 leaves of Tamus. The flower is green and the berry red. 



Active Principles. — The white bryony contains the gluco- 

 side hryonin, the squirting cucumber contains elaterin, and 

 the colocynth contains colocynthin. These glucosides belong 

 to the jalap or colocynth group of drastic purgatives, which 

 also includes jalap, gamboge, podophyllum, leptandrin, and 

 euonymin. Some, such as jalap and colocynth, are irritants 

 to the mucous membranes of the eyes, nose, and throat. 



Symptoms. — Our literature is not rich in examples of 

 poisoning by bryony or by the allied purgatives. Gamgee* 

 quotes Orfila on the effects of the root of white bryony 

 on animals, stating that dogs show great dulness after 

 J ounce, and die within twenty-four hours, not showing 

 other symptoms. According to Hertwig, 2 pounds of the 

 fresh or 6 to 8 ounces of the dried root given to horses did 

 not cause purging, but abdominal pain, loss of appetite, 

 accelerated breathing, fever, dulness, and copious urination. 

 Cornevin states that bryony promotes sweating, and causes 

 a livid hue, nausea, diuresis, and abundant painless watery 

 defsecation, to which are added in case of poisoning nervous 

 symptoms of stupor and tetanic convulsions. There may 

 be superpurgation or a suppression of defsecation. 



The lesions are not significant, and Cornevin concludes 

 that the purgaitive effect is not primitive but secondary, 

 and of reflex origin. The active principle is found in the 

 alimentary tract, urine, blood, and bile. 



As regards other observations on bryony, J. E. King, in 

 1855, noted hffimaturia in horses to which white bryony 

 had been given to improve the condition. J. g. Auger t 



* Veterinarian's Vade-Mecum, 1868, p. 190. 

 t Vet. Record, 1899, p. 254. 



