Post-Mortem Appearances.—Congestion of cerebral vessels, dilated pupils, red patches in alimentary canal.
Treatment.—Wash out the stomach freely; a hypodermic injection of apomorphine as an emetic, followed by hypodermic injections of pilocarpine or morphine. Tea, coffee, or tannin, to precipitate the alkaloid.
Tests.—Atropine may be recognized by its action on the pupil. The chloro-iodide of potassium and mercury precipitates it from very dilute solutions.
Hyoscyamus (Henbane).—Hyoscyamus niger.
Stramonium (Thorn-Apple).—Datura stramonium.
Symptoms.—Identical with those of belladonna and hyoscyamus, the post-mortem appearances and treatment being also the same.
Cannabis Indica (Indian Hemp).—When smoked, produces intoxication and mania. Hashish, used in the East as a narcotic, may cause persons to run 'amok' and commit murder.
XXXI.—COCAINE
Cocaine.—Any dose above 1/2 grain applied to a mucous membrane or injected hypodermically may give rise to alarming symptoms. These are intense pallor, faintness, giddiness, dilatation of pupils, paroxysmal dyspnœa, rapid, intermittent, and weak pulse, nausea and vomiting, intense prostration verging on collapse, and convulsions. The patient may recover if allowed to remain in a recumbent position, but stimulants by mouth—e.g., ammonia—and the hypodermic injection of brandy or ether may be necessary, with the inhalation of nitrite of amyl.