Symptoms of poisoning by Belladonna.
Shortly after the ingestion of the berries, leaves, or root, of this plant, the patient complains of extreme dryness of the lips, tongue, palate, and throat; the deglutition becomes difficult, and the pupil of the eye immoveably dilated; nausea, rarely followed by vomiting; symptoms of intoxication succeed, accompanied with fits of laughter, dreadful ravings, violent gestures of the body, and continual motion of the hands and fingers; sometimes the patient sinks into a state of fatuity, but rarely of stupor; redness and tumefaction of the face, a low and feeble pulse, paralysis of the intestines, livid spots on different parts of the body, profuse sweats, convulsions, and death. In the cases where recovery has taken place, there has been an insensible restoration to health and reason, without any recollection of the preceding state.
Physiological action of Belladonna.
The results of the experiments of Orfila authorise us to arrange the nightshade under the second division of our classification; for it is evidently absorbed, carried into the circulation, and is thus enabled to act upon the nervous system, and particularly on the brain. At the same time it exerts a local action upon the stomach, although less violent than that occasioned by the acrid poisons. It, moreover, appears on some occasions to act directly through the medium of the nerves, like those substances which constitute our first class; or else how shall we explain the fact of the pupil of the eye becoming permanently dilated, by the contact of the belladonna with the tunica conjunctiva? It would, therefore, appear that this plant unites within itself all the three great modes of action, upon which we have attempted to found our physiological arrangement of poisons, as expressed by the tabular classification at page [207].
Organic lesions discovered on dissection.
The bodies of those who have perished by belladonna, are extremely prone to decomposition; they soon putrefy, swell remarkably, and are covered with livid spots; blood flows from the mouth, nose, and eyes, and the stench is insufferable. The stomach and intestines will sometimes display extensive marks of inflammation, extending in some cases to the mesentery and liver; and several cases are recorded in which the stomach appeared ulcerated. The lungs are usually found livid, gorged with venous blood, and studded with black spots; the heart has been also observed to be livid.
Modes of detecting the presence of Belladonna.
Where the berries of this plant have been swallowed, we shall generally detect them in the matter vomited; or, in the event of death, in the stomach, on dissection, for they would appear to be very indigestible; in a case of poisoning by this plant, recorded in the history of the French Academy for the year 1706,[[443]] the stomach was found to contain some berries of the belladonna crushed, and some seeds. Where the quantity of the plant is sufficient, we may proceed to identify it, by obtaining atrophia[[444]] from it. For this purpose, the leaves, or the crushed berries, or any other part of the suspected plant, must be boiled in distilled water; the decoction must then be pressed out, and filtered; after the albumen has been thrown down by a little sulphuric acid, potass must be added as long as any precipitate is produced; when the precipitate is to be washed in pure water, re-dissolved in muriatic acid, and re-precipitated by ammonia. This last result will be atropia. It is white, and collects in acicular crystals, insipid, little soluble in cold water, or even in alcohol, but very soluble in this latter fluid at a boiling temperature, from which, however, it is deposited on cooling.
Stramonium. Thorn-Apple. James-town Weed.
Datura Stramonium (Pentandria Monogynia. Nat. Ord. Solanaceæ, Linn. Solaneæ, Juss.)
The thorn apple is an annual plant, a native of America, which gradually diffused itself, from the south to the north, and is now naturalized to this country, and is to be found very commonly about London growing on dunghills, and by road sides. It flowers in July and August. Every part of this plant is a strong narcotic poison, producing vertigo, and most of those symptoms which we have described as the effects of belladonna, although the former plant appears to excite the brain more violently. Dr. Barton mentions the case of two British soldiers, who ate it by mistake, for the chenopodium album; one became furious, and ran about like a madman; and the other died, with the symptoms of genuine tetanus. In the fifth volume of the Edinburgh Medical and Philosophical Commentaries, two cases are related by Dr. Fowler; and others are to be found in the writings of Haller, Krause, Sproegel, Gmelin, and Orfila, illustrative of the effects of this plant upon the human species. There is reason to believe that this plant has been long known, and that it has been very generally used by uncivilized nations, on account of the narcotic effects which it occasions.