Orfila divides the narcotico-acrids into six groups, and this arrangement will be followed in the present work; but they are not all very well distinguished from one another.
CHAPTER XXXIII.
OF POISONING WITH NIGHTSHADE, THORN-APPLE, AND TOBACCO.
The first group of the narcotico-acrids comprehends these whose principal symptom in the early stage of their effects is delirium. All the plants of the group belong to the natural order Solanaceæ, and Linnæus’s class Pentandria Monogynia. Those which have been particularly examined are deadly nightshade, thorn-apple, and tobacco.
Of Poisoning with Deadly Nightshade.
The deadly nightshade, or Atropa belladonna, is allied in physiological and botanical characters to the hyoscyamus and solanum formerly mentioned; and by the older writers, indeed, was confounded with the latter. It is a native of Britain, growing in shady places, particularly on the edge of woods. The berries, which ripen in September, have a jet-black colour. Their beauty has frequently tempted both children and adults to eat them, although they have a mawkish taste; and many have suffered severely. It is not the berry alone which is poisonous; the whole plant is so; and the root is probably the most active part.[[2127]] From one to four grains of the dried powder of the root will occasion dryness in the throat, giddiness, staggering, flushed face, dilated pupils, and sometimes even delirium.[[2128]] The juice of the leaves is very energetic, two grains of its extract being, when well prepared, a large enough dose to cause disagreeable symptoms in man. It is a very uncertain preparation, unless when procured by evaporation in vacuo; for some samples from the Parisian shops have been found by Orfila to be quite inert.
It contains a peculiar alkaloid, named atropia. In the belladonna Brandes obtained a volatile, oily-like, alkaloidal fluid, of a penetrating narcotic smell, and bitterish, acrid taste, which he supposed to be the active principle of the plant.[[2129]] The ulterior researches of Geiger and Hesse, however, as well as the simultaneous analysis of Mein, have proved that this fluid is not the pure alkaloid of belladonna, and that the real atropia is a solid substance, forming colourless, silky crystals, soluble in ether and alcohol, sparingly so in water, slightly bitter, liable to decomposition under contact with air and moisture, volatilizable, but with some decomposition, a little above 212°, and capable of forming definite crystallizable salts with acids.[[2130]] The aqueous solutions of its salts exhale during evaporation a narcotic vapour, which dilates the pupil, and causes sickness, giddiness, and headache.[[2131]]
The ordinary extract of belladonna in the dose of half an ounce will kill a dog in thirty hours when introduced into the stomach. Half that quantity applied to a wound will kill it in twenty-four hours. And forty grains injected into the jugular vein prove even more quickly fatal. Convulsions are rarely produced, but only a state like intoxication.[[2132]]
The oleaginous atropia of Brandes in a dose of two or three drops kill small birds instantaneously like concentrated hydrocyanic acid; in less doses it occasions staggering, gasping, and in a few minutes death amidst convulsions; and the dead body presents throughout the internal organs great venous turgescence and even extravasation of blood, but more especially excessive congestion within the head.[[2133]] The pure crystalline atropia of Mein, when dissolved in water and greatly diluted, causes extreme and protracted dilatation of the pupils.
Symptoms in Man.—On man the effects of belladonna are much more remarkable. In small doses, whatever be the kind or surface to which it is applied,—such as the skin round the eye, or the surface of a wound, or the inner membrane of the stomach,—it causes dilatation of the pupil. This effect may be excited without any constitutional derangement. When the extract is rubbed on the skin round the eye, or a solution of it dropped upon the eyeball, vision is not impaired; but when it is taken internally so as to affect the pupils, the sight is commonly much obscured. The effects of large or poisonous doses have been frequently witnessed in consequence of children and adults being tempted to eat the berries by their fine colour and bright lustre. From the cases that have been published the leading symptoms appear in the first instance to be dryness in the throat, then delirium with dilated pupils, and afterwards coma. Convulsions are rare, and, when present, slight.
The dryness of the throat is not a constant symptom. It is often, however, very distinct. It occurred, for example, in 150 soldiers who were poisoned near Dresden, as related by M. Gaultier de Claubry,[[2134]] and in six soldiers whose cases have been described by Mr. Brumwell.[[2135]] The former had not only dryness of the throat, but likewise difficulty in swallowing.