NEUROTICS ACTING ON THE BRAIN AND PRODUCING INTOXICATION.
ALCOHOL—NITRO-BENZOLE—COCCULUS INDICUS—FUNGI, ETC.
Alcohol.—Spiritous liquors, when taken in large quantities, not unfrequently produce fatal effects.
Two wineglassfuls of brandy proved fatal to a boy, seven years old, in thirty hours. Dr. Taylor mentions the case of a man who drank two bottles of port wine (containing eleven ounces of alcohol) in less than two hours. He speedily became intoxicated and utterly helpless, never rallied, and died from congestion of the brain and lungs. Another man who swallowed a bottle of gin for a wager died in half an hour, although much of the spirit was removed by the stomach-pump. A common cause of acute alcohol poisoning is “sucking the monkey,” as practised in the docks by laborers having access to spirit casks.
The symptoms generally come on rapidly, the individual appearing confused, and unable to walk steadily. This degree of intoxication soon passes into the stage of complete stupor and coma, and unless there is vomiting collapse soon sets in. In some cases a remission of the symptoms has occurred, death being postponed for a day or longer.
As the alcohol is eliminated by the lungs, stupor from drink may be detected by the odor of the breath. The countenance is usually flushed, and the pupils are dilated, but in cases of acute poisoning the patient may be deadly pale. The pupils are not contracted, as in poisoning by opium; moreover, the individual may generally be roused for a few moments by a loud noise, &c.; a circumstance which may prevent intoxication being mistaken for concussion of the brain.
Diluted spirits produce a state of excitement, terminating in stupor. It must be remembered that alcoholic liquids have been frequently made the vehicles of more virulent poisons.
As regards treatment, it is only necessary to say that the poison is to be removed as quickly as possible by the stomach-pump. Cold affusion should be employed, and the diluted liquor ammoniæ, or carbonate of ammonia, administered. Subsequently warmth must be promoted.
Nitro-Benzole and Aniline.—A compound, made from the rectified products of coal tar and nitric acid, and known as nitro-benzole, is sometimes used as a substitute for essential oil of almonds. It is sold to perfumers under the name of “essence of mirbane.” A lad employed in some chemical works in the early part of 1862, finding a syphon did not act, sucked through it some of the fluid, which happened to be nitro-benzole. No immediate effect resulted, but in a few hours he felt as if he were drunk. Stupor came on, and ended in death twelve hours after swallowing the poison. Another product of the destructive distillation of coal in gas-making is aniline (into which nitro-benzole is converted in the human body) a colorless, limpid, acrid, and poisonous liquid. It has given rise to very alarming symptoms when swallowed, as well as when inhaled in vapor. It produces a remarkable blue or purple discoloration of the body, particularly the lips and nails.
Cocculus Indicus.—The kernel of the berry of the Menispermum cocculus, or Levant nut, imported from the East Indies, contains from one to two per cent. of a poisonous principle named picrotoxine. Thieves sometimes mix a decoction or extract of the berries with spirits or beer, to give these drinks an intoxicating property (hocussing). Dishonest publicans, too, first reduce their beer by means of salt and water, and afterwards give it intoxicating properties by adding cocculus extract. The same substance is used by poachers to destroy fish. The symptoms produced appear to be a peculiar stupor, a complete loss of voluntary power, with a consciousness of passing events.
Darnel Seeds (Lolium temulentum).—The seeds of this plant, which is often found growing with corn crops, when accidentally mixed in considerable quantity with wheat or rye, and ground into flour, have caused gastric pain, severe giddiness, vomiting, and other symtoms of intoxication. The sufferers complained that everything seemed of a green color. A wet season is said to encourage the growth of darnel with the varieties of corn.
Camphor.—This substance is very variable in its action. It has given rise to alarming symptoms on some occasions, and once it has destroyed life. In scruple and half-drachm doses, it seems to have produced giddiness, difficulty in walking, dimness of sight, difficulty of breathing, delirium, and insensibility.
The stomach-pump or emetics must be employed. If the effects are not very severe they will generally cease spontaneously after a time. The odor would lead to the detection of the poison.
Fungi.—According to Berkeley there are now upwards of 2380 recognised species of British fungi, a considerable proportion of which are doubtless poisonous. But the type of the class may be taken as the Amanita muscaria. This is an autumn fungus of an orange-red color, and is used among the Siberian tribes, especially the Koraks, as an intoxicating agent, and produces symptoms somewhat similar to those of alcohol.
The Agaricus campestris and esculentus are those most frequently used as articles of food, on account of their savory properties; but even these are indigestible. They occasionally produce diarrhœa, with a pruriginous or exanthematous rash in dyspeptics; and should only be eaten in great moderation.
Ketchup, the juice of the mushroom flavored with salt and spices, has produced faintness, nausea and colic, lasting for some hours.
There are some positive characters by which the wholesome fungi can be distinguished from the unwholesome. Moreover those which may be eaten with impunity by some individuals prove destructive to others. Thus, a French officer and his wife died from breakfasting off mushrooms which others in the house ate without inconvenience. As a general rule highly colored mushrooms, with an astringent styptic taste, a forbidding pungent odor, and which grow in dark and shady places, should be avoided.
The symptoms produced by poisonous fungi are not unfrequently those indicative of gastro-intestinal irritation, with a disordered condition of the nervous system, and considerable depression; but, again, they may act much more like pure narcotics. In treating these case, the stomach and intestines must be thoroughly emptied, and then the prominent symptoms are to be relieved according to their urgency.