37^ POISONS : THEIR EFFECTS AND DETECTION. ' [§ 441 . 
by Dr Chevers (op. cit.), in which a man had taken by mistake a small 
portion of aconite root. Immediately after chewing it he felt a sweetish 
taste, followed immediately by tingling of the lips and tongue, numbness 
of the face, and severe vomiting. On admission to hospital he was 
extremely restless, tossing his limbs about in all directions and constantly 
changing his position. He complained of a burning sensation in the 
stomach, and a tingling and numbness in every part of the body, ex¬ 
cepting his legs. The tingling was specially marked in the face and 
tongue—so much so that he was constantly moving the latter to and fro 
in order to scratch it against the teeth. Retching and vomiting occurred 
almost incessantly, and he constantly placed his hand over the cardiac 
region. His face was anxious, the eyes suffused, the lips pale and ex¬ 
sanguine, the eyelids swollen, pupils moderately dilated, and insensible to 
the stimulus of light; the respiration was laboured, 64 in a minute ; the 
pulse 66, small and feeble. There was inability to walk from loss of 
muscular power, but the man was perfectly conscious. The stomach- 
pump was used, and albumen and milk administered. Three and three- 
quarter hours after taking the root the symptoms increased in severity. 
The tongue was red and swollen, the pulse intermittent, feeble, and 
slower. The tingling and numbness had extended to the legs. On 
examining the condition of the external sensibility with a pair of scissors, 
it was found that, on fully separating the blades and bringing the points 
in contact with the skin over the arms and forearms, he felt them as one, 
although they were 4 inches apart. But the sensibility of the thighs 
and legs was less obtuse, for he could feel the two points distinctly 
when they were 4 inches apart, and continued to do so until the distance 
between the points fell short of 2f inches. He began to improve about 
the ninth hour, and gradually recovered, although he suffered for one 
or two days from a slight diarrhoea. As in the case detailed (p. 377), 
no water was passed for a long time, as if the bladder early lost its 
power. 
§ 441. Poisoning by the Alkaloid Aconitine. —Probably the earliest 
instance on record is the case related by Dr Golding Bird in 1848. 1 
What kind of aconitine was then in commerce is not known, and since 
apparently a person of considerable social rank was the subject of the 
poisoning, the case has been imperfectly reported. It seems, however, 
that, whether for purposes of suicide or experiment, or as a medicine, 
two grains and a half of aconitine were swallowed. The symptoms were 
very violent, consisting of vomiting, collapse, and attacks of muscular 
spasm ; the narrator describes the vomiting as peculiar. “ It, perhaps, 
hardly deserved that title ; the patient was seized with a kind of general 
spasm, during which he convulsively turned upon his abdomen, and with 
an intense contraction of the abdominal muscles, he’jerked out, as it 
1 Lancet, i. 14. 
