Veterinary medicines : their actions and uses / by Finlay Dun.

Date:
1854
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Veterinary medicines : their actions and uses / by Finlay Dun. 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 villous is reddened, softened, thickened, and disorganized by patches of inflammation and extravasation of blood, which ex- tend into the duodenum, and are also observable in the colon and cecum. The lungs are usually congested, and their mucous membrane, as also that of the urino-genital organs, is very red and vascular. These appearances present themselves, not only when the poison has been swallowed, but also when it has been absorbed from the surface of the skin.1 The bodies of animals poisoned by arsenic do not undergo the usual form of putre- faction, but become dry and mummified, the cellular tissue, brain, lungs, and some other parts becoming greasy and tallow- like. In the treatment of cases of arsenical poisoning, the first object must be to get rid of any poison still remaining unabsorbed, by the administration of emetics; or, where these are ineffectual, as in horses or cattle, by the use of the stomach pump. The hydrated sesqui-oxide of iron is the best of the various antidotes hitherto proposed, and is most active when prepared by precipitating a sesquisalt of iron with ammonia, washing the precipitate with warm water, and administering it moist. It should be given as soon as possible, and in a quantity at least twelve times greater than that of the poison. It appears to act by uniting with the arsenious acid to form an insoluble arsenite. Magnesia is another antidote which appears, like the last, to render arsenious acid insoluble. It is most effectual when given in the gelatinous form prepared by precipitating a solution of epsom salts with caustic potash. Certain insoluble powders, as charcoal and clay, act as mechanical antidotes, enveloping the particles of the poison, and protecting the coats of the stomach from its action, ffut such antidotes, to be of any use, must be given along with, or immediately after, the poison. The most useful means for removing the remote effects produced by poisonous doses of arsenic are bloodletting, large doses of opium and demulcents, where the inflammatory symptoms are high ; oleaginous laxa- tives and clysters, where there is constipation and griping; and