226  Poisoning  hy  Gelsemium  Sempervirens.  \^^^u^yXi^ii^' 
virens.  He  said  he  had  prepared  forty  drops  of  the  fluid  extract  in  a 
bottle,  and  that,  contrary  to  his  directions,  the^patient  had  taken  it 
all  in  the  course  of  a  few  hours.  I  place  no  reliance  upon  his  state- 
ment as  to  the  amount,  for  he  was  most  thoroughly  frightened  by  the 
occurrence,  but  I  have  no  doubt,  from  the  symptoms,  that  gelsemium 
was  the  drug  administered.  The  patient  asserted  positively  that  he 
gave  her  no  specific  directions  as  to  dose  or  intervals,  but  told  her  to 
take  it  when  she  had  pain,  and  if,  on  holding  up  her  finger  and  look- 
ing at  it,  it  did  not  appear  double,  she  was  all  right,  and  could  take 
more. 
I  satisfied  myself,  notwithstanding  the  denial  of  both  parties  con- 
cerned, that  he  had  procured  an  abortion  upon  the  woman,  and  gave 
the  medicine  as  an  anodyne  after  the  expulsion  of  the  ovum.  It 
seemed  at  first  as  though  the  case  Avould  inevitably  prove  fatal;  nor 
do  I  see  now  hoAv  recovery  could  have  taken  place  without  remedial 
interference. 
I  should  not  have  been  surprised,  at  any  time  within  an  hour  after 
my  arrival,  to  see  the  jerking  respiration  cease,  and  life  become  ex- 
tinct. 
The  effect  of  the  poison,  it  will  be  noticed,  was  to  produce  a  general 
feeling  of  numbness  and  oppression,  followed  by  double  vision,  loss 
of  sight,  paralysis  of  the  muscles  of  voluntary  motion,  with  complete 
insensibility  to  all  external  impressions.  The  paralysis  of  those 
muscles,  whose  function  it  is  to  elevate,  was  more  persistent  than  that 
of  any  others.  It  is  easy  to  explain  the  bad  respiration  by  the  con- 
dition of  muscular  paralysis  which  existed.  There  did  not  seem  to  be 
any  direct  sedative  action  of  the  poison  upon  the  heart.  In  regard 
to  this  point,  I  am  inclined  to  agree  with  Dr.  Bartholow  in  the  opinion 
that,  when  the  cardiac  movements  are  depressed,  it  is  the  result  of  in- 
sufficient respiration.* 
I  gave  stimulants,  (brand}^,  ammon.  carb.,  &c.,)  on  account  of  the 
alarming  prostration,  and  because  i  did  not  know  what  else  to  do. 
Should  another  patient,  similarly  affected,  come  under  my  care,  I 
should  pursue  the  same  course,  with  the  addition,  if  it  were  possible  at 
the  time,  of  the  use  of  galvanism,  an  agent  found  so  beneficial,  in  his 
own  case,  by  Dr.  J.  T.  Main,  of  Unity,  'Maine. f 
*  Practitioner,  (London,)  Oct.,  1870,  p.  208. 
t  Boston  Medical  and  Surgical  Journal,  April  15, 1869. 
