A manual of pharmacy / by William Thomas Brande.

Date:
1825
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: A manual of pharmacy / by William Thomas Brande. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh. The original may be consulted at the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh.

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    the second by Mr. Hume; and, with the corroboration afforded by the third method, they are effectual and satisfactory. In examining the contents of the stomach of persons who have taken arsenic, we should always look for the poison in substance; but unless this be done immediately, it will very rarely be found : and the whole of the arsenic may be vomited or purged off, in the first instance, and the symptoms con- tinue violent, though nothing can be detected in the stomach and bowels. It is in these cases that we must be on our guard against the effect of bile or other colouring substances, as affecting the copper test, and against that of muriatic and phosphoric salts upon solution of silver ; and in all such cases we must not be satisfied of the presence of arsenic, till it has been unequivocally ascertained by the third test, namely, that of the alliaceous sublimate : this renders all other precau- tions unnecessary. The symptoms by which arsenic manifests itself upon the living system, are numerous, complicated, and often not very determinate. Spasmodic pains in the stomach and bowels, attended by a sense of heat in the mouth and of constriction in the oesophagus, by an increased flow of saliva, a sense of tightness about the integuments of the head and of the eye- lids, are among the earliest of the commonly occurring symp- toms, and, together with inflamed tunica conjunctiva, and itching of the face and neck, and nausea, are not unfrequently witnessed where arsenic is incautiously exhibiting as a me- dicine. To these there succeed incessant vomiting and purg- ing, attended by excruciating pain of almost every part of the body ; but of the stomach, bowels, and head, especially : the pulse, at first full, hard, and frequent, sinks, and becomes irregularly feeble; and clamminess of the skin, cold sweats, purple spots, and convulsions, precede death ; or, if the pa- tient escape this catastrophe, hectic fever, paralysis, and mental and bodily debility, attend him for the remainder of his days. It is commonly said that in these cases there is a re- markable proneness to putrefaction in the dead body, but this is no constant phenomenon. The examination of the body after death does not throw much light upon the mode in which arsenic destroys; but this has