POISONING  BY  TINCTURE  OF  ACONITE. 
237 
costly  one,  and  the  quality  of  imperviousness  to  water,  which 
the  material  possesses  in  a  high  degree,  will  be  of  service." 
The  patentees  prepare  their  collodion  with  gun  cotton  or  with 
xyloidine  made  from  hemp,  flax,  jute,  straw,  sawdust,  or  starch, 
which  they  dissolve  in  any  of  the  solvents  of  gun  cotton  and  mix 
with  any  of  the  oils  before  mentioned,  adding  only  so  much  of 
the  oil  or  mixed  oils  as  will  be  freely  taken  up  by  the  solution. 
If  they  desire  the  coated  silk  or  other  fabric  to  be  soft  and  pli- 
able in  its  nature,  they  add  a  small  quantity  of  animal  oil  to  the 
solution.  The  proportions  the  patentees  use  for  coating  silk  are 
30  parts  of  the  xyloidine  dissolved  in  about  300  parts  by  weight 
of  ether,  with  100  parts  of  spirits  of  wine,  with  which  is  mixed 
from  75  to  100  parts  of  vegetable  oils.  This  solution  is  allowed 
to  evaporate  in  a  still  until  it  arrives  at  such  a  density  that  it 
will  only  just  flow  evenly  over  a  glass  plate,  so  as  finally  to 
leave  a  substantial  film  behind  it. 
If  the  patentee  can  make  some  light  and  inexpensive  fabric 
waterproof,  and  at  the  same  time  soft  and  pliable,  it  would  be 
extensively  used  by  surgeons.  Oiled  silk  is  expensive,  and  the 
oiled  calico  and  gutta  percha  tissue,  sometimes  used  in  its  stead, 
lack  the  softness  and  pliability  desired.  The  article  we  have 
suggested  is  greatly  desired  in  our  large  hospitals. — Ohem. 
News,  London,  Jan.  21,  1860. 
POISONING  BY  TINCTURE  OF  ACONITE. 
Dr.  Heighway  reported  the  case  of  a  lady,  an  inmate  of  his 
family,  who  had  taken  a  tablespoonful  of  the  tincture  of  aconite 
root,  in  mistake  for  the  compound  tincture  of  cinchona.  At 
the  time  of  the  committing  of  the  mistake  he  was  not  at  home. 
On  his  arrival,  he  found  the  patient  almost  pulseless.  Every 
object  looked  green  to  her,  and  she  complained  of  an  intense 
heaviness  about  the  stomach. 
The  first  symptoms,  he  learned,  were  twitching  of  the  muscles 
about  the  eye  and  nose,  which  continued  until  they  became  very 
distressing.  There  were  also  tingling  sensations  of  the  upper 
and  lower  limbs. 
As  he  had  no  doubt,  when  he  first  saw  the  case,  that  absorp- 
tion of  the  drug  had  taken  plaee,  he  did  not  administer  any 
