[479] Intoxicationsfälle durch Aconitin Nitricum Gallicum, nebst Sections Bericht, von Dr. Albert Busscher; Berl. klinische Wochenschrift, 1880, No. 24, pp. 338, 356.
A labourer of Beerta, sixty-one years of age, thin, and of somewhat weak constitution, suffered from neuralgia and a slight intermittent fever; Dr. Carl Meyer prescribed for his ailment:—
| ℞. | Aconiti Nitrici, 2 grm. |
| Tr. Chenopodii Ambrosioid., 100 grms. M.D.S. |
Twenty drops to be taken four times daily. The patient was instructed verbally by Dr. Meyer to increase the dose until he attained a maximum of sixty drops per day.
The doses which the man actually took, and the time of taking them, are conveniently thrown into a tabular form as follows:—
| No. | 1. | March 14, | 7 | p.m., | 5 | drops | equal to | aconitine nitrate, | ·4 | mgrm. | |
| „ | 2. | „ | 9 | p.m., | 20 | „ | „ | „ | 1 | ·6 | „ |
| „ | 3. | March 15, | 8 | a.m., | 20 | „ | „ | „ | 1 | ·6 | „ |
| „ | 4. | „ | 11 | a.m., | 20 | „ | „ | „ | 1 | ·6 | „ |
| „ | 5. | „ | 4 | p.m., | 20 | „ | „ | „ | 1 | ·6 | „ |
| „ | 6. | „ | 9 | p.m., | 20 | „ | „ | „ | 1 | ·6 | „ |
| „ | 7. | March 16, | 10 | p.m., | 10 | „ | „ | „ | ·8 | „ |
In the whole seven doses, which were distributed over forty-eight hours, he took 9·2 mgrms. (·14 grain) of aconitine nitrate.
On taking dose No. 1, he experienced a feeling of constriction (Zusammenziehung), and burning spreading from the mouth to the stomach, but this after a little while subsided. Two hours afterwards he took No. 2, four times the quantity of No. 1. This produced the same immediate symptoms, but soon he became cold, and felt very ill. He had an anxious oppressive feeling about the chest, with a burning feeling about the throat; the whole body was covered with a cold sweat, his sight failed, he became giddy, there was excessive muscular weakness, he felt as if he had lost power over his limbs, he had great difficulty in breathing. During the night he passed no water, nor felt a desire to do so. About half an hour after he had taken the medicine, he began to vomit violently, which relieved him much; he then fell asleep.