New remedies : with formulae for their preparation and administration / By Robley Dunglison.

  • Dunglison, Robley, 1798-1869.
Date:
1856
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: New remedies : with formulae for their preparation and administration / By Robley Dunglison. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the Harvey Cushing/John Hay Whitney Medical Library at Yale University, through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the Harvey Cushing/John Hay Whitney Medical Library at Yale University.

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    M. Damason1 relates the case of a druggist, who had some hydrocyanic acid in a vial with a ground stopper, and, as it had been prepared almost three months, thinking that it was decomposed, he opened the vial, and applied it to his nose to ascertain whether the acid retained any smell; he instantly fell down, and remained for half an hour without giving the slightest signs of life; but finally recovered after an illness of several days. Many experiments have been made on animals with this acid. A drop, introduced into the bill or anus of a sparrow, induced death in from one to two minutes, preceded by convulsions. Even holding the bill over a vial filled with the acid proved fatal. A duck was destroyed by fourteen drops. Twenty drops introduced into the stomach of a rabbit killed it in three minutes. When a few drops were injected into the jugular vein, death supervened still sooner. A small dog, to which two drops had been given, experienced shortness of breath, staggered, fell, passed its urine repeatedly, vomited twice, and afterwards seemed quite well. The same animal took, five hours later, eight drops, and fell into a tetanic, comatose condition, but recovered in half an hour. More severe but not fatal effects resulted from sixteen drops. Thirty to forty drops administered to dogs and cats produced violent con- vulsions and death, in from six to fifteen minutes. The experiments of Emmert and Coullon seem to have shown that the action of hydrocyanic acid is more violent when it is injected into the jugular vein, or inhaled in a concentrated form; less so when in- jected into the rectum. In the case of a horse, into whose jugular it was injected, death occurred in twenty-one minutes. When placed in contact with the dura mater, or with nerves, no striking phenomena were perceptible. This fact was confirmed by Viborg.2 On the other hand, when received into a wound in its concentrated state, it acts most violently. Scharring, who broke a glass containing the acid, and received some of it into the wound produced thereby, died in an hour after the accident. It is not easy to deduce comparative results from the discordant statements of different experimenters, inasmuch as we are ignorant of the precise strength of the acid employed. A French physician made some experiments on the uncertainty of the strength of the medicinal acid; and found, that he could swallow a whole ounce of one sample, and a dram of a stronger sample, without sustaining any injury; but on trying some, which had been recently prepared by Vauquelin, he was immediately taken ill, and narrowly escaped with life.3 Dr. Pe- reira4 caused the instantaneous death of a rabbit by applying its nose to a receiver filled with the vapour of the pure acid: the animal died without a struggle. A drop of the pure acid of Gay-Lussac, placed in the throat of a most vigorous dog, caused it to fall dead after two or three hurried respirations.5 1 Journal de Chimie Medicale. Juin, 1831. 2 Osann, loc. cit. S. 580. 3 Revue Medicale, xvii. 265, and Christison on Poisons, 1st American Edition, p. 582. Phila. 1845. 4 Elements of Mat. Med. &c, 2d edit. i. 437, London, 1842. 5 Magendie, in Annales de CMmie et de Physique, vi. 347, and Formulaire, &c.