BRYONY
Two plants are included under this name, Bryonia dioica, white bryony (N.O. Cucurbitaceæ), the only indigenous cucurbitaceous plant, and the Tamus communis, black bryony (N.O. Dioscoreaceæ). Both the bryonia dioica and the tamus communis possess active irritant properties. They are of importance from the fact of their growing wild, and the possibility of the fruit being eaten by children.
ELATERIUM
Elaterium, the inspissated juice of Ecballium officinarum, or Squirting Cucumber. It is a powerful drastic purgative, one grain having given rise to alarming symptoms in man.
ANIMAL IRRITANTS
CANTHARIDES
Cantharides—Cantharis vesicatoria (N.O. Coleoptera)—is seldom given as a poison, but is most frequently employed to procure abortion, or for its supposed aphrodisiac properties.
Cantharides is a pure irritant. Applied externally, it produces vesication; and if absorbed, strangury.
Cantharidine—the active principle of Cantharides—is insoluble in water and bisulphide of carbon. It is but slightly soluble in alcohol, but it is dissolved by chloroform, ether, and some oils. Four parts of cantharidine have been procured from a thousand parts of the flies.
Symptoms.—An acrid taste is first experienced in the mouth, followed by a burning heat in the throat, stomach, and abdomen. There is constant vomiting of bloody mucus, and the stools also contain blood. The patient complains of intense thirst, pains in the loins, and an incessant desire to void urine, which is frequently mixed with blood. Salivation in some cases is a prominent symptom. Strangury may result from the external application of cantharides as a blister, &c. Priapism is often obstinate and painful, and the fatal termination is generally ushered in by violent convulsions and delirium. In pregnant women, abortion may take place as a result of the general irritation and disturbance of the system, there being no proof that the uterus is particularly affected by the drug. The vomited matters may contain shining green particles, the presence of which indicates the nature of the poison taken. The invasion of the symptoms may in some cases be retarded.