50 
CONTRIBUTIONS  TO  TOXICOLOGY. 
drops  of  aqua  ammonia  given  in  a  glass  of  water,  caused  a  copious 
vomiting,  restoring  the  functions  of  animal  and  organic  life.  As 
soon  as  vomiting  ceased,  all  the  symptoms  of  poisoning  re-ap- 
peared. Another  dose  of  ammonia  caused  more  vomiting,  the 
cessation  of  which  was  again  followed  by  the  symptoms  of 
poisoning.  Giving  ammonia  was  continued  until  vomiting,  which 
always  followed  it,  had  cleansed  the  stomach  of  all  the  opium. 
In  this  case  ammonia  acted  as  an  emetic,  and  at  the  same  time 
as  an  excitant  on  the  nervous  system,  and  consequently  if  not 
the  best  antidote  against  narcotics,  it  is  the  first  remedy  that 
ought  to  be  administered  in  such  cases. — (Qaz.  Med.  de  Paris* 
1855,  No.  9. 
.Poisoning  by  Lyons  Pats  Pills. 
On  the  evening  of  the  20th  of  October,  a  child  of  sixteen 
months  took  four  or  six  of  Lyon's  pills  ;  the  frightened  parents 
immediately  administered  the  white  of  an  egg  stirred  in  milk  : 
about  two  hours  afterwards  a  violent  vomiting  and  purging  set 
in,  together  with  cramps  of  the  stomach,  and  although  the  first 
afterwards  ceased,  the  purging  continued,  so  that  the  child  could 
not  retain  anything  on  the  stomach.  The  stools  were  slimy  and 
inodorous.  A  physician  who  had  been  called  in,  desired  to  know 
whether  there  was  any  metallic  poison  present ;  a  few  experiments 
hastily  made  showed  the  absence  of  phosphorus  and  heavy 
metals.  An  emulsion  of  ol.  amygd.  dulc.  was  given,  and  a  few 
hours  afterwards  the  purging  lessened,  and  then  the  belly  was 
more  inflated  than  before  ;  another  emulsion  combined  with  syr, 
rhei.  and  aq.  amygd.  amar.  was  prescribed,  and  about  thirty 
hours  after  taking  the  poison  the  child  was  recovered  so  as  to 
require  only  a  mild  tonic  to  complete  the  treatment. 
This  case  shows  that  Lyon's  pills  are  not  so  innocent  to  human 
beings,  and  they  certainly  require  in  their  use  some  caution. 
Poisoning  by  Light-Gas,  by  Dr.  Olnss. 
In  a  damp  room  of  a  house  in  a  narrow  street  in  Stutgart, 
there  lived  a  married  couple,  twenty- nine  years  of  age.  Through 
a  leak  in  an  underground  gas-pipe  in  the  street,  gas  escaped, 
which,  unable  to  penetrate  through  the  frozen  ground,  found  it& 
