BISMUTH
The preparations of this metal act as irritant poisons, death having occurred from a dose of two drachms of the sub-nitrate. Dr. Trail (Outlines of Medical Jurisprudence, p. 116) mentions the ease of a patient of his who took six drachms in three days in divided doses. The symptoms were vomiting, extreme pain in the abdomen and throat, a weak, feeble pulse, and much anxiety about the præcordia. Recovery took place. A case of severe vomiting during pregnancy, ending fatally, was mistaken for arsenic poisoning. The error arose from mistaking a greyish powder on the walls of the stomach for arsenic. It turned out on further inquiry that it was bismuth, given medicinally to prevent the vomiting. Bismuth carbonate mixed with gruel or bread and milk is given in large quantities for the purposes of radiography of the alimentary canal without any untoward effects.