Case of recovery from a poisonous dose of strychnia; with observations on the tests for organic alkalies / [Thomas Anderson].

  • Anderson, Thomas, 1819-1874
Date:
1848
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Case of recovery from a poisonous dose of strychnia; with observations on the tests for organic alkalies / [Thomas Anderson]. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    POISONOUS DOSE OF STRYCHNIA; WITH OBSERVATIONS ON THE TESTS EOR ORGANIC ALKALIES. BY THOMAS ANDERSON, BID., F.R.S.E., LECTURER ON CHEMISTRY, EDINBURGH, FROM THE MONTHLY JOURNAL OF MEDICAL SCIENCE FOR JANUARY 1848. (Read to the Medico-Chirurgical Society of Edinburgh, December 15th, 1847.) Mr B. has been afflicted, for a considerable period, with tic doulou¬ reux, occurring at irregular intervals, and in paroxysms of excessive violence. For the relief of the pain of these attacks he has been in the habit of making use of muriate of morphia, at first in small quan¬ tities, and afterwards in gradually increased doses, until three and a half grains were necessary to produce its effect. At this time, he went into the shop of a druggist in the town in which he resided, for the purpose of obtaining some muriate of morphia, and received a quantity of a powder slightly yellowish in colour, which was stated to be that substance. On the same day, having occasion to go a short distance into the country on business, he took, previous to going out, his usual dose, 3J grains of the powder, which was simply placed upon the tongue and swallowed, and he remarked at the time that it was extremely bitter, and that the taste was more than usually persistent, but it did not occur to him that any thing was wrong. Shortly after, however, while walking along the street, he felt slightly indisposed, the most prominent symptom being a sense of numbness in the back of the legs, which he attributed to the effects of cold, to which he had been exposed in the early part of the morning. As these symptoms did not appear of any importance, he proceeded by a public conveyance to the village where his business lay, and returned by the next opportunity. During the whole of this time the symptoms remained precisely as they were the moment he first observed them; but as he was walking along, on his return, they sud¬ denly increased, the numbness being accompanied by a sense of want of power, and a sort of dragging of the muscles of the legs, which soon became so great, that, as he describes it, he had to put his hands at the back of his thighs in order to push his legs along. This EDINBURGH: SUTHERLAND AND KNOX, 58, PRINCES STREET.