Volume 2

A general system of toxicology : or, a treatise on poisons, found in the mineral, vegetable, and animal kingdoms, considered in their relations with physiology, pathology, and medical jurisprudence / by M.P. [sic] Orfila.

  • Orfila, Matthieu Joseph Bonaventure, 1787-1853.
Date:
1816-17
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: A general system of toxicology : or, a treatise on poisons, found in the mineral, vegetable, and animal kingdoms, considered in their relations with physiology, pathology, and medical jurisprudence / by M.P. [sic] Orfila. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The University of Leeds Library. The original may be consulted at The University of Leeds Library.

    256/604 (page 242)
    Experiment 17tli. Twelve grains of the resinous extract of Hemlock, suspended in two drachms and a half of watei;, were injected into the jugular vein of a small robust dogi Immediately, the animal uttered plaintive cries, he experip enced considerable vertigoes, and fell down on the side; the head was strongly reflected upon the back; the legs stretched out, and separated from one another; they were agitated by convulsive movements: these symptoms lasted nearly three mi; nutes : then insensibility of the organs of sense, dilatation of the pupils, general tranquillity, very remarkable coma; trem- bling of every part of the body. He died six minutes after the injection. The body was immediately opened. The heart •was quivering; the blood contained in the left ventricle, was of a Vermillion red colour, and partly coagulated; the right ventricle was almost empty, and the lungs were in their natural state. Observations. 1st. Being in garrison at Torrequemada in Spain, I was called at seven in the evening, on the 2nd of March, 1812, to visit a grenadier, who was reported to be dying. I found the patient in a profound sleep, without sense, respiring with extreme difficulty, and lying on the ground on a little straw, in a small narrow low room, close shut, and filled with people and with smoke. His pulse small, hard, and slow, even to thirty pulsations in the minute; the extremities were cold; the face bluish, and distended with blood, like that of a person strangled. The patient was placed in the fresh air. I was informed that he had eaten, together with several of his com- rades, some broth into which Hemlock had been put; and that since supper, the whole were as if drunk, and felt pains in the head and throat; that this grenadier, who had commonl/ a good appetite, had eaten a greater quantity of it than the rest, and immediately after having supped, had undressed himself, lain down, and gone to sleep, whilst the others still