(3) A solution of the chloride of barium obtained from (2) gives a yellow precipitate with neutral chromate of potash, insoluble in water, but soluble in nitric acid.
APPENDIX.
Treatment by Antidotes or otherwise of Cases of Poisoning.
§ 912. All medical men in practice are liable to be summoned hastily to cases of poisoning. In such emergencies not a moment is to be lost, for valuable lives have ere this been sacrificed simply from the delay caused by searching for medicines and instruments, and visiting the patient unprovided with suitable remedies. Hence it is far the safest plan for every medical man to provide himself with an “antidote bag,” which, to be complete, should be furnished with the following requisites:—
I. Instruments:—
(1.) A stomach-pump or tube,[990] with proper mouth gags.
[990] The stomach-tube is simply a tube of india-rubber, from 6 to 8 feet in length, one end of which should be a little stiff, and have a solid rounded extremity pierced with two lateral oval holes—catheter-like; but, on an emergency, any india-rubber tube of a suitable length will do. It is used by passing the proper end gently down the throat into the stomach; if the patient is insensible, or, as in some determined suicides, obstinate, the jaws must be forcibly opened by the handle of a spoon, and some solid substance placed between the teeth so as to give sufficient room for the entry of the tube. If the tube is now passed in the median line well into the grasp of the pharynx, it is actually drawn down into the stomach by the pharyngeal muscles, so that the operator has, as it were, only to “pay out” a sufficient quantity of the tubing. Holding the tube in a perpendicular position, it may then be filled with water by means of a small funnel. When full, the end must be pinched and brought down to the ground to deliver in a basin; it will then act as a syphon and the contents of the stomach will be syphoned off. The tube is elevated again above the body, and the stomach filled with water; this syphoned off, and the process repeated. Coffee, also, or antidotes may be conveniently introduced. If the recumbent position is necessary, the patient must, of course, be placed on a bed or table, in order that there should be sufficient fall for the syphon.