Vol. LV. No. 2425. 
NEW YORK, JULY 18, 1896. 
*1.00 PER YEAR. 
A COUNTRY DOCTOR’S MEDICAL NOTES. 
PILLS AND PRESCRIPTIONS FROM ACTUAL PRACTICE. 
Notes on Ivy Poisoning. 
My experience as a practicing physician with ivy 
poisoning, may be worth relating, as it illustrates 
some practical points of general interest to country 
residents. My first 
case was in the per¬ 
son of a lawyer 
living in a house 
partly surrounded 
by a vine-covered 
veranda. This vine 
had been growing 
there for a number 
of years; but the 
lawyer had only 
recently come into 
possession. On the 
occasion of his first 
attack, I was un¬ 
able to identify 
the disease. It 
was severe, affect¬ 
ing the face only, 
and passed for ery¬ 
sipelas. The next 
year, about the 
same time in the 
early summer, I 
was called in again 
to treat him for a 
similar attack. I 
had felt much dis¬ 
satisfied with my 
former diagnosis, 
and was now con¬ 
vinced that it was 
a mistake. But 
what could it be '? 
I asked myself, 
when the answer 
came like a flash 
of light, “ He looks 
just as James Adair 
did when he was 
poisoned with 
ivy.” James Adair 
worked for my 
father, and had 
suffered from an 
attack about ten 
years before while 
I was still at home. 
But how did this 
patient get 
poisoned ? There 
was no history of 
any exposure. He 
had been nowhere 
that it seemed 
likely that he 
could have been 
exposed. There 
was this vine 
growing over the 
veranda ; but it 
had been there 
many years, and it 
did not appear that 
any one living in 
the house had ever 
before been 
poisoned by it 
Even the lawyer 
himself had not 
been molested at 
any other time of the year, though he passed close by 
it every time he went in or out by the front door. 
However, when the suggestion was made that it might 
be the cause of the mischief, he said that he intended 
to take down the veranda, and would have the vine 
grubbed up. This was done. The lawyer never had 
another attack ; but several of the men who assisted 
FASCIATED STEM OF THE GAULT EVERBEARING RASPBERRY. Fig. 154. See Ruralisms, Page 483. 
in taking up the vine, were poisoned by it. A week 
or two after, I was called to see a boy, and was able 
on sight to pronounce the case one of ivy-poisoning. 
Once you become acquainted with its appearance, you 
have no difficulty in recognizing it, it is so character¬ 
istic. “ Ah, but,” said the mother, “ that cannot be ; 
he has not been anywhere that he could have been 
exposed.” And so 
it really seemed ; 
but I was so sure 
that I was right, 
that I persisted in 
my cross-examina¬ 
tion until, at last, 
she said that he 
had brought in 
some sticks from 
the commons that 
he thought might 
answer for pea- 
sticks. When, at 
my request, these 
were shown to me, 
what were they 
but portions of the 
lawyer’s ivy vine 
that had been 
thrown out ! They 
looked so dead and 
dry that one could 
hardly believe 
them capable of 
doing any harm. 
Several times 
since, on giving 
this diagnosis, I 
have had some dif¬ 
ficulty in tracing 
the poison to its 
source; but have 
always, in the 
end, succeeded in 
confirming m y 
opinion. 
One distinctive 
and striking feat¬ 
ure of the disease, 
so far as my ex¬ 
perience goes, is 
the well-defined 
limitation of the 
diseased surface, 
which terminates 
abruptly at the 
line to which the 
clothing reaches. 
If the patient be a 
man who was 
working with his 
sleeves rolled up, 
as was one of mine 
who told me that, 
while plowing, 
he had to stop a 
number of times 
to clear the plow 
of a troublesome 
vine that was 
growing in the 
grass, you will 
find the skin of 
the hands and 
arms affected just 
so far as they were 
uncovered ; while 
immediately above 
the appearance 
will be perfectly 
