266 
POISONING  BY  GRANULES  OF  DIGITALIN. 
creasing  weakness,  no  action  either  of  the  bladder  or  bowels. 
Motion  became  impossible.  The  patient  felt  as  if  her  eyes  had 
become  larger  and  were  starting  from  their  orbits. 
These  symptoms  continued,  with  alternations  of  augmentation 
and  diminution  for  seventy-two  hours ;  at  this  time  she  at  length 
consented  to  see  a  physician,  who  found  the  symptoms  as  de- 
scribed above,  with  extreme  pallor  of  the  face,  very  considerable 
exopthalmia  of  both  sides,  the  eyelids  wide  open,  conjunctiva  of 
a  lemon  color,  and  the  pupils  much  dilated;  the  skin  cold  and 
damp,  the  pulse  small,  weak,  and  intermittent,  46-48°  pulsations, 
sometimes  scarcely  perceptible.  The  tongue  dry,  the  thirst  ex- 
treme, the  epigastric  region  painful  on  pressure ;  no  urine  in  the 
bladder. 
The  physician  prescribed  laxative  injections,  repeated  sini- 
pisms  to  the  extremities,  general  friction  with  camphorated  lina- 
ment,  a  cataplasm  to  the  epigastrium,  and  lemonade. 
Very  little  amelioration  during  the  next  twelve  hours ;  to  this 
treatment  were  added  purgatives,  and  a  weak  infusion  of  coffee, 
and,  later,  black  tea. 
It  was  two  days  before  the  symptoms  disappeared,  and  the 
weakness  and  sense  of  fatigue  continued  much  longer  than  that. 
The  action  of  the  bowels  recommenced  on  the  second  day ;  the 
pulse  likewise  rose  to  56-58,  and  the  next  day  to  60-54 ;  the 
urine  reappeared  on  the  second  day,  after  a  bath.  The  exopthal- 
mia was  several  days  before  it  disappeared. 
This  case  is  remarkable  for  the  almost  free  development,  for 
three  days,  of  the  symptoms  peculiar  to  a  large  dose  of  digita- 
lin.  It  tends  to  reassure  us  as  to  the  consequences  of  this  de- 
scription of  poisoning.  It  is  true  that  the  patient  vomited 
abundantly,  and  we  are  therefore  left  in  doubt  as  to  the  quantity 
of  the  poison  introduced  into  the  economy ;  but  we  must  remem- 
ber, in  our  prognostication,  the  property  which  digitaline  has  of 
causing  vomiting,  when  taken  in  large  doses. 
The  preceding  case  is  not  the  first  of  the  kind ;  M.  Chereau 
published  a  very  similar  case,  of  which  the  following  is  a  sum- 
mary : 
A  lady  with  a  very  strong  constitution  swallowed  quickly,  for 
the  purpose  of  poisoning  herself,  a  quantity  of  granules  of  digi- 
taline, which  were  estimated  at  least  40.  This  occurred  an  hour 
after  dinner. 
