Arsenic; Paris Green; Fowler's Solution; "Rough on Rats": Intense pain, thirst, griping in bowels, vomiting and bloody purging, shock, delirium. Patient picks at the nose. Send to druggist's for two ounces hydrated sesquioxide of iron, the best antidote, and give tablespoonful every quarter hour in half a glass of water. Meanwhile, or if antidote is not to be had, give a glass or two of limewater, followed by a teaspoonful of mustard dissolved in a glass of water, followed by warm water in any quantity.
Copper; Blue Vitriol; Verdigris: Give one tablespoonful of mustard in a glass of warm water. After vomiting, give whites of three eggs, one pint of milk.
Mercury; Corrosive Sublimate; Bug Poison; White Precipitate; Bichloride of Mercury: Give whites of four eggs for every grain of mercury suspected; cause vomiting by giving a tablespoonful of mustard mixed with a glass of warm water, or thirty grains of powdered ipecac mixed with half a glass of water.
Silver Nitrate: Give two teaspoonfuls of table salt dissolved in two glasses of hot water. After half an hour give a tablespoonful of castor oil.
Phosphorous; Matches: Give teaspoonful of mustard mixed in a glass of water. After vomiting has occurred, give a tablespoonful of gum arabic dissolved in a tumblerful of hot water. An hour later give tablespoonful of Epsom salts dissolved in a glass of water. Give no oil.
Antimony; Tartar Emetic: Symptoms as stated for metals. Give thirty grains of powdered ipecac stirred in wineglass of water, even if vomiting has occurred. Give three cups of strong tea, or hot infusion of oak bark, and two teaspoonfuls of whisky in wineglass of hot water. Use hot-water bottles to keep patient warm.
NARCOTICS.—Aconite; Belladonna; Camphor; Digitalis; Ergot; Hellebore; Lobelia: These all cause nausea, numbness, stupor, rapidity of the heart followed by weakness of heart, delirium or convulsions, coma, and death. There is often an acid taste in mouth, with dryness of throat and mouth, fever, vomiting and diarrhea, with severe pain in the bowels. Pupils are dilated.
In either case use the stomach pump at once. If no pump is at hand, siphon out stomach with rubber tube and funnel. If tube is not available, give thirty grains of powdered ipecac stirred in a wineglass of water, followed by two glasses of warm water. As the patient vomits, give more warm water. When vomiting ceases, give two cups of strong hot coffee, and then a tablespoonful of castor oil.
Keep patient awake by rubbing; do not exhaust him by walking him about. He must lie flat. If prostration follows, give two teaspoonfuls of whisky in wineglass of hot water from time to time, if repetition is necessary.
Alcohol; Liquors Containing It: Symptoms of drunkenness, stupor, drowsiness, irritability of temper, rapid, weak heart, sleep, coma. Breath testifies.