Treatise on Poisons: In relation to medical jurisprudence, physiology, and the practice of physicChristison, Robert, Sir
Science
Treatise on Poisons: In relation to medical jurisprudence, physiology, and the practice of physic
Christison, Robert, Sir
Medical jurisprudence; Toxicology
presented no decided symptom at the time, or for three days more; but on
the fourth day difficult breathing ensued, with anxiety of expression,
frequency of the pulse, and heat of the skin; and next day death took
place. There was no morbid appearance found in the body.[612] I do not
know of any parallel instance of death from arsenic, and cannot admit
that the poison was the cause of the symptoms and fatal event.
Soon after the sickness begins, or about the same time, the region of
the stomach feels painful, the pain being commonly of a burning kind,
and much aggravated by pressure. Violent fits of vomiting and retching
then speedily ensue, especially when drink is taken. There is often also
a sense of dryness, heat, and tightness in the throat, creating an
incessant desire for drink; and this affection often precedes the
vomiting. Occasionally it is wanting, at other times so severe as to be
attended with suffocation and convulsive vomiting at the sight of
fluids.[613] Hoarseness and difficulty of speech are commonly combined
with it. The matter vomited is greenish or yellowish; but sometimes
streaked or mixed with blood, particularly when the case lasts longer
than a day.
In no long time after the first illness diarrhœa generally makes its
appearance, but not always. In some cases, instead of it, the patient is
tormented by frequent, ineffectual calls: in others the great intestines
are scarcely affected. About this time the pain in the stomach is
excruciating, and is often likened by the sufferer to a fire burning
within him. It likewise extends more or less downwards, particularly
when the diarrhœa or tenesmus is severe; and the belly is commonly tense
and tender, sometimes also swollen, though not frequently,—sometimes
even on the contrary drawn in at the navel.[614] When the diarrhœa is
severe, the anus is commonly excoriated and affected with burning
pain.[615] In such cases the burning pain may extend along the whole
course of the alimentary canal from the throat to the anus. Nay at times
the mouth and lips are also inflamed, presenting dark specks or
blisters.[616]
Sometimes there are likewise present signs of irritation of the lungs
and air-passages,—almost always shortness of breath (which, however, is
chiefly owing to the tenderness of the belly),—often a sense of
tightness across the bottom of the chest, and more rarely decided pain
in the same quarter, darting also through the upper part of the chest.
Sometimes pneumonia has appeared a prominent affection during life, and
been distinctly traced in the dead body.[617]
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