POISONING 175 



poisoning generally appear about an hour after the 

 ingestion of the poison, manifestations of acute gas- 

 tritis, increased flow of saliva, acute pain, bloody 

 diarrhea, extreme prostration, convulsions, and coma 

 occurring in rapid succession. A garlicky odor of 

 breath and icterus complete the . clinical picture. 

 If the patient is taken into a darkened room, his 

 breath, feces, and urine appear luminous. If the 

 patient survives the acute symptoms, fatty degener- 

 ation, chiefly of the liver, takes place, from which 

 the animal may die later on. 



Treatment. — An emetic of two grains of copper 

 sulphate in water should be given and repeated 

 until the stomach is completely emptied. Copper 

 sulphate is both an emetic and an antidote for 

 phosphorus, forming an insoluble phosphid of cop- 

 per.- After all the poison has been ejected by 

 vomiting that it is possible to eject in this way, 

 demulcents and opiates should be given, but on 

 no account should oil or milk be used, as ' they 

 hasten the absorption of the phosphorus. To coun- 

 teract the extreme prostration and collapse asso- 

 ciated with phosphorus poisoning, subcutaneous in- 

 jections of strychnin sulphate (gr. 1-200 to gr. 1-60) 

 or one-half to one ounce of spirits of camphor 

 should be given. 



Strychnin 



Strychnin poisoning is probably the most com- 

 mon form of poisoning with which the veterinarian 

 has to deal. The dog poisoner generally chooses 

 this powerful alkaloid to attain his nefarious ob- 

 ject. In addition, canine patients are extremely 

 susceptible to strychnin and poisoning frequently 

 results from overdosage of this drug. These lat- 

 ter cases, however, are usually quickly amenable to 

 treatment. In malicious poisoning, on the other 



