Salivation, indigestion and tympanites, nausea, vomiting, diarrhœa, and (especially) intense polyuria: the kidney may be irritated to such a degree as to produce albuminuria and hæmaturia. Intense dulness and general weakness precede death, which sometimes occurs in four to twelve hours after the poison has been taken.
The lesions are to be found in the digestive and urinary apparatus. The kidneys are congested and hypertrophied, or present changes indicating epithelial nephritis. The ureters and the bladder may show similar lesions.
Treatment comprises removal of the cause, and the administration of emollients, narcotics, and diffusible stimulants.
POISONING BY TARTAR EMETIC.
Tartar emetic is sometimes given for the purpose of favouring secretion and restoring rumination; occasionally the proper dose is exceeded and poisoning occurs. Given repeatedly, tartar emetic is apt to accumulate in the deeper portions of the gastric compartments and to produce general symptoms of super-purgation, and such local symptoms as ulceration and even perforation of the walls of the stomach, which in turn is followed by abscess formation in the abdominal wall.
Diagnosis is easy. The prognosis is grave.
Treatment is confined to the administration of mucilaginous and diuretic fluids. Tannin has been recommended.
POISONING BY ARSENIC.
Overdoses of Fowler’s solution produce rapidly fatal results, in twenty-four to forty-eight hours. Lesions are little marked.
Arsenious acid acts like tartar emetic by accumulating and producing local gastritis; it may also cause acute poisoning, being in that case characterised by severe colic with tympanites, salivation, and fœtid, sometimes blood-stained, diarrhœa. The urine becomes albuminous, and remains scanty. Incomplete paralysis is sometimes produced, and various forms of hæmorrhage result from changes in the constituents of the blood.