POISONING BY VEGETABLES. 
3 
ductive of the mischief. It has not been partaken of by the 
animal accidentally in his food, but it has been given to him 
clandestinely, in that love of quackery so rife among grooms 
and stable-men, either for the purpose of getting their horses 
into condition, so called, or as a vermifuge. Hence, too, 
arises a difficulty as to the treatment to be adopted. When 
we know for a certainty what vegetable has been adminis¬ 
tered, we can resort to the use of a counter-poison or anti¬ 
dote, and by its timely introduction ward off the injurious 
consequences that otherwise would take place, and also by 
other means effect its ejectment; but it is otherwise when 
we are ignorant of the agent. It is well, therefore, to know 
that, under such circumstances, there are certain substances 
that may be employed from which it may be anticipated that 
benefit will result, while in themselves they are innocuous, or 
comparatively so. The first of these is animal charcoal, pre¬ 
pared, from bullock’s blood by fire. This may be given dif¬ 
fused in water, by means of the stomach-pump, or some other 
"way, in almost any quantity. It has been ascertained to pos¬ 
sess the property of rendering inert the vegetable alkaloids, 
and also to cause a precipitation of most of the metals from 
their solutions. Common bone or ivory black does not possess 
one fifth part of the antidotal power of this form of animal 
charcoal, and vegetable charcoal is far less efficacious. It has 
been thought that carbon in this state would even destroy 
the poison of rabies, serpents, &c., if it were applied in the 
form of poultice to the wound. 
The second agent is tannin , or tannic acid, the astringent 
principle obtained from the gall-nut, and other sources. 
This has been lately found by experiment to be an antidote 
to even strychnia. It may be given in large doses, and is 
said to act as a general antidote to the vegetable alkaloids by 
combining with them and forming a precipitate more or less 
insoluble. Excess of it, however, has been stated to bring 
about the solution of this precipitate, which is the only ob¬ 
jection that has been raised to its employment. 
We need not add that there are other expedients to be had 
recourse to, but these the judgment of the practitioner will 
be at no loss to supply as the circumstances arise requiring 
them. 
