[ 817 ] 
POISON. 
POI'SON,/. [French .] That which deftroys or injures 
life by a fmall quantity, and by meansnotobvious to the 
fenfesj venom.—One gives another a cup of poij’on, but 
at the fame time tells him it is a cordial ; and fo he 
drinks it off, and dies. South. 
Themfelves were firft to do the ill, 
E’er they thereof the knowledge could attain ; 
Like him that knew not poifmi's power to kill, 
Until, by tailing it, himlelf was llain. Davies. 
Any thing infectious or malignant.—This being the 
only remedy againlt the poifon of fin, we mult renew it as 
often as we repeat our lins, that is, daily. Whole Duty of 
Man. 
Poisons are fubftances which, taken into the ftomach, 
either by the alimentary canal, the lungs, or through a 
wound, dellroy or endanger life. It may be added, to 
complete this definition, that the idea of fmall quantity 
is alfo underftood to belong to the word poifon ; for 
otherwife the expreffion would comprehend nearly all 
articles of diet, iince an exceflive quantity of ingeflum 
may produce death, even when their quality is innocuous. 
We fhall treat, ill, Of poifons which are fatal when 
taken by the mouth ; adly, of aerial poifons; laltly, of 
venomous flings, bites, or wounds. A knowledge of the 
two latter divifions is of much lefs confequence than an 
acquaintance with tliefif.il. 
I. Of Poisons received by the Stomach. 
Confidering that this article may probably on fome 
occafions be turned to for rapid information as fio what 
is to be done in cafes of emergency, we break through 
any philofophical arrangements for the purpofe of in¬ 
forming our readers what they may immediately put in 
praftice, Ihould they have the misfortune to meet with 
anyone who has fwallowed poifon. In the firlt place, the 
objeCt to be had in view', in all cafes of poifoning by the 
ilomach, is either the ejection of the offending lubftar.ee, 
or its neutralization. 
The early treatment of thofe poifoned with nitric, 
muriatic, citric, or tartaric , acids, or with phofphorus, con- 
fills in giving copious draughts of water impregnated with 
calcined magnefia, in the proportion of one pint of the for¬ 
mer to an ounce of the latter. Sulphuric acid, or oil of 
vitriol, is to be treated in the fame way, but with carbo¬ 
nate of magnefia inftead of the calcined magnefia; oxalic 
acid with chalk and water. Should copious draughts 
fail to induce vomiting, nothing elfe need be done in 
thefe cafes ; emetics, See. are ufelefs, and other meafures 
are immediately required. 
The alkalies, as poiajh (vulgo pearl-ajh ), ammonia 
(hartfhorn, fal volatile, Sec.) fo da, and lime, are to be 
treated with vinegar or lemon-juice, a tea-lpoonful of 
either in a glafs of water being given every two or three 
minutes. In thefe as in former cafes no other means 
need to be ufed to promote ficknefs. 
The w hite of egg beat up with water and given in large 
quantities, is an excellent antidote to all the prepara¬ 
tions of copper, (verdegris, Sec.) and to all the prepara¬ 
tions of mercury, (to wit corrcfive Jublimate, red precipitate 
or vermilion.) The proportions are twelve or fifteen eggs 
to two pints of water, to be repeated if requifite. In 
thefe cafes, vomiting may be excited by tickling the 
throat with the finger or a feather. 
The dreadful effeCls of arjenic (whether the white, 
yellow, or red, preparations,) are bell counteracted by a 
drink compofed of fugar and water. If the arfenic has 
been taken in lolution, lime-w>ater or chalk may be added 
to the fugared water with advantage. 
Vol. XX. No. 1412. 
Copious draughts of milk excite vomiting, and are 
therefore highly ufeful in cafes of poifoning by gold, (the 
muriate or fulminating gold,) by bifmnth, (the nitrate, and 
the oxyd, or face-powder,) or by tin, (the muriate of which 
is ufed by dyers ; its oxyd is putty-powder.) 
The mild agent, fugar, exhibited in copious draughts of 
warm water, is the only remedy that we have for anti¬ 
mony, whether in the forms of the tartaric acid antimony, 
(emetic tartar ), muriate of antimony (butter of antimony), 
or vitrified antimony (glafs of antimony). 
Silver, the only poifonous preparation of which is the 
nitrate (vulgo lunar caufiic ), has for its antidote common 
fait. 
Lead, in the three preparations of the fuper-acetate 
(fugar of lead), red oxyd (red lead), and carbonate or 
(white lead), and alfo pure barytes, together with the 
carbonate and muriate of barytes, are poifons which are 
beft treated by copious draughts of a lolution of Epfom 
or Glauber’s fait. Thefe promote vomiting, and, with 
the barytes, at the fame time decompofe the poifon, 
which they render inert by forming an infoluble fulphate. 
The preparations of lime are in themfelves highly 
emetic. Copious draughts of warm water, to promote 
vomiting, are therefore all that is required in the treat¬ 
ment of them. The nitrate of polojh, (nitre, or falt- 
petre,) a fait which produces dreadful effeCls when largely 
taken, is beft oppofed by copious dilution with fugared 
water. 
The curative praClice with which we are to oppofe the 
vegetable poifons confifts,ns in the mineral clafs, in evacu¬ 
ating them from the ftomach as faft as poffihle ; but, as 
we cannot induce any chemical change in them, it is 
ufelefs to attempt their decompolition or neutralization. 
After vomiting has enfued, all that remains to be done 
is to exhibit fuch medicines as have the power of exci¬ 
ting vital aClicns contrary to thofe which are the refult 
of the particular poifon that may have been taken. The 
aClion of vomiting may be excited in all cafes ofpoifoning 
by vegetables, by ftrong emetics. The emetic tartar, or 
fulphate of lime, orefpecially the fulphate of copper, are 
perhaps the beft ; and they ftiould be given in larger pro¬ 
portions than ufual. Thefe large quantities are recom¬ 
mended—fay four to five grains of the firft, from ten to 
twenty grains of the fecond, or from twelve to fifteen of the 
third ; becaufe, to do good, the emetic operation fiiould be 
immediate ; it being a well-afcertained faft, that that in¬ 
terval of naufea, which precedes vomiting for a long time, 
when feeble emetics are ufed, is extremely favourable to 
abforptiori; the aftion which we are endeavouring by 
every means in our power to oppofe. 
The fame aftive treatment is proper in ferious cafes of 
poifoning by fjh, the only animal poifon we are expofed 
to the reception of through the medium of the ftomach. 
The fame treatment’ is alfo proper where intoxication 
has been carried to an alarming extent by the drinking 
of fpirituous liquors. 
We have thus briefly fliown what are the firft fteps to 
be taken in cafes of poifoning, becaufe they are fo Ample 
that anyone may accomplilh them; and it would be 
improper, in any inftance, to wait long for profeflional 
affiltance, fince the evacuating praftice can of courfe only 
be ufeful while the poifon remains in the ftomach. When 
profeflional aid can be procured, it is, doubtlefs, to be 
preferred, becaufe the furgeon is enabled to extraft from 
the ftomach with the greateft certainty, andunder nearly ail 
circumftances, every poifon that can betaken. Neither 
perfeft: infenfibility of the ftomach, or apparent death, 
nor, on the other hand the mod obftinate refiftance to the 
exhibition cf remedies, can prevent the performance of 
9 Y this 
