94 
POISONING BY STRYCHNINE. 
Infirmary Street, Edinburgh, are now ready to supply the profession with any 
number, of the most beautiful make and at moderate prices. 
Nothing will give me greater pleasure than, from time to time, to describe to 
the Society any mechanico-chemical or other apparatus likely to be of use to 
its members. 
I am, your obedient servant, 
J. D. Morrison. 
POISONING BY STRYCHNINE. 
The following case of poisoning by strychnine, successfully treated by chloroform and 
tincture of aconite, is recorded by W. H. Folker, F.R.C.S., in the ‘Lancet’ of July 13. 
Having ascertained the nature of the poison, the following treatment was adopted. 
At thirty-five minutes past one the patient was first seized with a distinct spasm, of 
some severity. This was followed in ten minutes by another, more severe than the first; 
and from this time they increased in length and frequency, until there was only about 
two minutes’ interval between each spasm, which lasted half a minute. The patient 
screamed horribly, and prayed not to be touched, as the slightest touch instantly ex¬ 
cited a spasm. Between each attack his face appeared quite calm, and his intellect 
remained clear throughout. A little after two p.m., chloroform was administered, and 
he was kept quietly under its influence for nearly half an hour, when he was allowed to 
recover from it slightly. About five minutes afterwards he was seized with another 
spasm of intense severity, lasting over a minute, leaving him cold, pulseless, and appa¬ 
rently dying. This paroxysm, which occurred at forty minutes past two p.m., was far 
worse than any he had, either before or after. When his pulse began to rise, chloro¬ 
form was again administered for about half an hour at a time, and kept up during the 
next two or three hours, and every hour ten minims of tincture of aconite was given, 
until he had taken three doses, when the interval of taking it was increased to two 
hours. Between five and six p.m. the chloroform was abated, as the spasms had become 
less severe. The paroxysms were now very irregular in their occurrence, there being 
sometimes an interval of half an hour, and sometimes of only two or three minutes. 
The patient complained of great thirst, and greedily drank a little water when poured 
into his mouth, but it so invariably excited a spasm that he desisted from any attempt 
to swallow. 
At eight p.m. the attacks became so much worse that I put him again under the in¬ 
fluence of chloroform for half an hour; and from this time he gradually recovered, the 
last spasm taking place at forty minutes past twelve a m. —that is, within ten minutes 
of twelve hours from the time of swallowing the poison. He could now take a little 
beef-tea and brandy-and-water with comfort. . 
The powder—a “ vermine-killer,” by which suicide had been attempted—contained 
three grains of strychnine, about eighteen grains of rice-flour, a little oil of rhodium, 
and a fraction of a grain of indigo. The residue in the tumbler I evaporated, and found 
it to weigh, when dried, only one grain. The remainder had all been swallowed. 
As these cases are not very common, I have thought it well to put this one on record ; 
and will conclude with the following summary:— 
1. Three grains of strychnine were takeu. 
2. The first spasm came on in three-quarters of an hour. 
3. The severest paroxysm occurred in an hour and fifty minutes. 
4. The spasms ceased in twelve hours. 
5. The face was calm and free from the risus sardonicus of ordinary tetanus. 
G. The intellect was clear throughout, although screaming was present, together with 
a dread of being touched—similar to that witnessed in hydrophobia. 
7. Touching, and the effort of swallowing, directly produced a spasm. The spasms 
were very irregular in their occurrence. 
8. Chloroform and tincture of aconite are remedies to be relied upon. 
