[CHAPTER XXVI.]
CONVULSIVES.
NEUROTICS PRODUCING CONVULSIONS.
NUX VOMICA—BRUCIA—STRYCHNIA.
The plants which yield the alkaloid Strychnia are, the Strychnos nux vomica, a native tree of Coromandel, Ceylon and Bengal: the Strychnos Ignatii, which abounds in the Philippine Islands, and furnishes the hard seed, about the size of a filbert, known as the bean of St. Ignatius; the Strychnos tieute, a large climbing shrub of Java; the Strychnos toxifera, of Guiana; and the Strychnos colubrina, or Snakewood, of the East Indies. The effects of these plants are exerted upon the spinal cord; as is manifest by the violent convulsions and the tetanic contractions of the muscles which they produce. They have no effect on the brain, consciousness remaining intact until death.
A powerful juice, used by the Indians of Guiana as an arrow poison, and variously designated as curare, woorara, &c., is in all probability obtained from the Strychnos toxifera. The composition of the arrow poison varies in different tribes; in some it is a mysterious compound of many substances, obtained from plants, red and black ants, and the fangs of venomous snakes; but in all the active ingredient would seem to be the Strychnos toxifera. It destroys the power of the motor nerves—an action the reverse of that possessed by strychnia.
Nux Vomica.—A powder, a tincture, and an extract, obtained from the seeds of the Strychnos nux vomica, or koochla tree, are used in medical practice. Thirty grains of the powder have proved fatal, and so have three grains of the alcoholic extract. Death may occur in from fifteen minutes to twelve hours. It is possible that nux vomica may accumulate in the system, as serious symptoms have arisen from the long-continued use of small doses. Thus a lady took nine grains of the powder daily, in divided doses, for sixteen days. As purging then set in with colic, the medicine was withdrawn. Five days after the withdrawal there was ringing in the ears, with drowsiness, impairment of speech, &c.; on the ninth day tetanic symptoms set in, with trismus; and on the twelfth day, after several tetanic convulsions, death took place from exhaustion.
Brucia.—The seeds of the nux vomica not only yield strychnia but brucia, an alkaloid which has the same properties, and causes the same symptoms as strychnia, though it is much less powerful.
Strychnia.—This alkaloid may very justly be termed a deadly poison. It is unfortunately the active ingredient of some preparations sold to the public for destroying vermin: a circumstance which has now led to the death of several individuals. “Battle’s Vermin Killer” is said by Dr. Letheby to consist of flour, Prussian blue, sugar, and strychnia in the proportion of twenty-three per cent. Since the use of strychnia by those notorious criminals Palmer and Dove, this formidable agent has been employed by other murderers.
The medicinal dose of strychnia is from the 1⁄30th to the 1⁄12th of a grain twice a day. Dr. Christison communicated a case to Dr. Taylor in which the 1⁄16th of a grain caused the death in four hours of a child between two and three years of age. One quarter of a grain has nearly proved fatal to adults. A woman twenty-two years of age died in the Jersey Hospital, from the accidental administration of half a grain. Death has occurred in twenty minutes from this poison. In eleven cases analyzed by Dr. Guy two hours and three-quarters were the limits respectively.