Fatal Dose.—The essential oil is from four to eight times as strong as the acid of the Pharmacopœia. From twenty to thirty drops have proved fatal. Death may take place in half an hour or less.
Treatment.—The same as that recommended under prussic acid.
Cherry-Laurel
The cherry-laurel, Prunus Laurocerasus—the leaves of which have been used for flavouring custards, &c.—contains prussic acid, and is therefore poisonous.
In the British Pharmacopœia there is an Aqua Laurocerasi—laurel water—prepared from the leaves. It contains 0.1 per cent. of hydrocyanic acid. It should be used with extreme caution, as the amount of hydrocyanic acid contained in the leaves is uncertain. Death has frequently resulted from its use. The most important case, however, is that of Sir T. Broughton. His mother, who gave him his usual draught on the morning of his death, observed that it had a strong smell of bitter almonds. Two minutes after he took it she observed a rattling or gurgling in his stomach; in ten minutes more he seemed inclined to doze; and five minutes afterwards she found him quite insensible, with the eyes fixed upwards, the teeth locked, froth running out of his mouth, and a great heaving at his stomach, and gurgling in his throat. He died within half an hour after swallowing the draught. No light was thrown on the case by the carelessly conducted post-mortem; but the suddenness of his death, the improbability of apoplexy occurring at so early an age, and the odour of bitter almonds observed by his mother, pointed out clearly enough the true cause of death.
ACONITE
All parts of this plant, the Aconitum Napellus (N.O. Ranunculaceæ), are poisonous. The poisonous properties depend upon the presence of an alkaloid—aconitine—chiefly found in the root.
Poisoning by the alkaloid came before the public mind in the case of Dr. Lamson, executed for the murder of his brother-in-law. The symptoms noticed in that case were very much as detailed below. When any part of the plant is chewed, a sensation of tingling is experienced in the mouth, and burning in the throat. Many of the aconites are, however, inert. The root, having been taken by mistake for horse-radish, has led to several cases of accidental poisoning.
| Aconite | Horse-Radish |
|---|---|
| General Characteristics.— | General Characteristics.— |
| Root conical; dark brown externally, | Root cylindrical, of nearly the same |
| and with numerous twisted rootlets; | thickness down its whole length. |
| internally, the colour is whitish. | Externally, buff-coloured; |
| internally, white. | |
| Taste.—Produces a tingling | Taste.—Sweet and pungent. |
| and numbing sensation in the mouth. |