The symptoms and post-mortem appearances and treatment will be detailed under the head of strychnine. The brown powder of the seeds may, in some cases, be seen adhering to the mucous membrane of the stomach.
STRYCHNINE
Strychnine is very slightly soluble in cold water to the extent of one part in 8300; in boiling water one part dissolves in about 2500. It is more soluble in alcohol, and very soluble in chloroform or ether and chloroform mixed.
It has a bitter taste, so intense, that one part in 70,000 of water can be detected by the taste. Strychnine is not easily decomposed—it resists the action of warm strong sulphuric acid, and is not altered by putrefactive processes when present in viscera. It has been discovered in the body 322 days after death in one case, 368 days in another.
Fig. 40.—Photo-micrograph of crystals of
strychnine sulphate from aqueous solution, × 50.
(R. J. M. Buchanan.)
Fig. 41.—Photo-micrograph of crystal of
strychnine sulphate from aqueous solution, × 50.
(R. J. M. Buchanan.)
Allen detected strychnine in the residue of some viscera from a person who had died of strychnine poisoning, and which he had kept in a jar for six years. Richter found the alkaloid at the end of eleven years in putrid tissues which had been exposed to the air all that time in open vessels.
Symptoms.—Should the poison be in solution, the patient complains of a hot and intensely bitter taste during swallowing. The effects of the poison depending to a great extent on the mode of administration, become manifest in from a few minutes to an hour or more after it is taken. The earliest symptoms are a feeling of suffocation and great difficulty of breathing. These come on suddenly, without any premonitory warnings. Twitching of the muscles rapidly pass into tetanic convulsions of nearly all the muscles of the body, which are simultaneously affected. The head after several jerks becomes stiffened; the neck rigid; the body curved forward, quite stiff, and resting on the back of the head and heels. The face is congested, and the countenance expresses intense anxiety; the eyes staring, the mouth open, and the lips livid. The throat is dry, the thirst great; but when an attempt is made to drink, the jaws are spasmodically closed, and a piece of the vessel may be bitten out. During the intervals of the paroxysms the intellect is usually clear, and the patient appears conscious of his danger, frequently exclaiming, “I shall die!” He is also conscious of the accession of the paroxysms, telling those around him of their approach, and asking to be held. In the case of J. P. Cook, poisoned by Palmer, those about him tried to raise him, but he was so stiff that they found it impossible. He then said, “Turn me over,” which they did, and he died in a few minutes. Intense pain is felt, due to the powerful contractions of the muscles. After the lapse of a minute or two, the spasms subside, a sudden lull takes place, during which the patient feels exhausted and his skin is bathed in sweat.