Poison

any substance that, if introduced into the system, tends to impair health or cause death. The term is difficult to define. Even water, the most wholesome of substances, may, if injected into a vein, destroy the blood cells and cause death. Then, too, quantity is a factor. A small dose may be helpful; a large dose, death. Even strychnine may be administered in minute quantities as a remedy for paralysis and dyspepsia. Another fact is well expressed by the popular saying, "What is one man's meat is another man's poison." An old-fashioned classification serves the present purpose:

CORROSIVES. These poisons, like lye, eat away the lining of the throat, stomach, and intestines. Corrosive sublimate or soluble chloride of mercury is of this type. Makers of looking-glasses, thermometers, barometers and the like, in which mercury is employed for backing, are especially subject to mercurial poisoning. The acids known as sulphuric, nitric, hydrochloric, oxalic, and carbolic, as well as some of the alkalies, are of this type. The only remedy is washing out the stomach. Ptomaine belongs here. As to remedies it may be said in general that an acid is an antidote for an alkali and an alkali an antidote for an acid.

IRRITANTS. These are poisons that cause inflammation, especially of the swallow, stomach, and parts of the alimentary canal. Arsenic, lead, copper, zinc, and phosphorus are leading poisons of this class. Paris green is an arsenical poison. Many a child has been poisoned by the phosphorus found in the heads of matches. The bite of a rattlesnake belongs to this class. Many of the gases, as coal gas, are irritant and highly poisonous. Alcohol and nicotine belong to this division.

NERVE-DESTROYING POISONS. Prominent poisons of this sort are prussic acid, opium, strychnine, aconite, and belladonna.

In case of poisoning, the physician with his stomach pump should be summoned in all haste. In the meantime a drink of hot water, all the better if strong with mustard, may induce vomiting. The emetic will be aided in doing its work if the patient lie face downward with the head hanging over the edge of the bed and if the inside of the throat be tickled with a feather. For some of the more common poisons, the remedies most likely to be at hand are:

Acids.--Muriatic, oxalic, acetic, sulphuric, nitric. Antidotes: Soapsuds, magnesia, limewater. Carbolic Acid.--Antidotes: Flour and water, mucilaginous drinks. Prussic Acid.--Antidote: Ammonia in water. Alkalies.--Lye, potash, hartshorn, ammonia. Antidotes: Vinegar, lemon juice in water. Arsenic.--Rat poison, Paris green. Antidotes: Milk, raw eggs, sweet oil, lime-water, flour and water. Bug Poison.--Corrosive sublimate, blue vitriol, sugar of lead, saltpetre, lead. Antidotes: Whites of eggs or milk in large doses. Chloroform.--Remedy: Artificial breathing and a dash of cold water on the face. Carbonate of Soda.--Copperas, cobalt. Antidote: Soapsuds. Iodine.--Antimony. Antidotes: Starch and water, strong tea. Mercury.--Antidotes: Whites of eggs, milk, mucilages. Opium.--Morphine, laudanum, paregoric, soothing powders or soothing syrups. Antidotes: Strong coffee, hot bath. Keep awake and keep moving at any cost.

Charcoal has a power of absorbing poisons. Powdered charcoal stirred in water and taken in quantity is a harmless remedy for many poisons. It should be taken immediately and at intervals of ten minutes.

See Socrates; Ordeal; Borgia; Mushroom; Loco; Sumac; Nightshade; Ivy; Pneumonia