264 VETBEINAEY TOXICOLOGY 



joints partially anchylosed ; the abdominal viscera showed 

 inflammation with sloughing mucuses ; the liver and kidneys 

 showed fatty degeneration. 



Cornevin notes, further, as a symptom of the poisoning, 

 haematuria, with frequent, painful micturition, and passage 

 of dark-coloured bloody urine. 



Buxus. 



Buxus serrvpervirens, the common and well-known ever- 

 green shrub, the box, is found wild in parts of central and 

 southern England, but is much used as an ornamental 

 border in gardens. From this circumstance box may give 

 rise to poisoning, but cases are rare. 



The plant contains an alkaloid, called buxine, and a resin 

 and essential oil. The action of the plant, probably due to 

 the latter constituents, is emeto-purgative. In fatal doses 

 there are intense abdominal pain, dysentery, convulsions, 

 and death by asphyxia. The lesions shown are extended 

 gastro-intestinal irritation, and pulmonary congestion. 



Other Euphorbiaeese. 



Ricinus communis. — The castor-oil plant is an important 

 exotic, yielding the well-known seeds from which castor oil 

 is obtained by pressure. The seeds or beans of castor oil 

 are oval, and about f by J inch in size. They have a 

 brownish or buff colour, and are mottled or marbled with 

 brownish specks and streaks. 



The seed is rich in oil, of which it contains 50 per cent. 



The residue left after pressure contains the active poison, 

 which does not pass into the oil. Accidents may arise 

 either from the giving of the beans in other food, or from 

 the feeding of the residual press-cake, which is otherwise 

 valuable as a manure. 



Toxic Principle. — The effects of castor-oil bean are due 

 to ricine, a typical example of the class formerly known as 

 toxalhwmins, now better designated as toxines, in the 

 present instance phyto-toxines, being of vegetable origin. 



