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.

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    2 Characters. Male flowers. Corollae of six petals, con- sidered by many botanists as a polygon of six equal divisions, coloured : six stamina. The same arrangement is found in the hermaphrodite flowers, which have beside three distinct ger- mens, bearing short styles, and changing into oblong capsules, with two valves and several membranous sheaths arranged in two rows; the capsule opens into each cell by an interior suture: stem the height of one metre^ straight, simple, and cylindrical, terminated by a panicle of greenish white flowers, the corollae of which are straight, or moderately open : leaves, very large, oval, lanceolated, sulcated by numerous and pa- rallel ribs: root thick, fleshy, fusiform, yellow without, white within, of an acrid, bitter, and disagreeable taste; it excites a burning in the throat. ACTION OF WHITE HELLEBORE ON THE ANIMAL ECONOMY. Experiment ] st. At one in the afternoon a small dog was made to swallow two drachms and a half of the dried root, per- fectly pulverized. At the end of five minutes the animal began to vomit, and in a quarter of an hour from the ingestion of the poisonous substance, he had already vomited six times some mucous bilious matter of a yellowish colour. At a quarter past two he was moaning, and making excessively deep in- spirations ; his mouth was filled with foam. At three, he walked about with great difficulty ; staggered in every respect like a person intoxicated with wine. The next day at half past twelve, he had no longer any vertigo, and was able to walk about at his ease. The following day at nine o'clock, he ate very heartily, and since that time his health has been perfectly restored. Experiment 2nd. At one o'clock the oesophagus of a to-