Observations on poisons; and on the use of mercury in the cure of obstinate dysenteries / by Thomas Houlston.

Date:
1784
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Observations on poisons; and on the use of mercury in the cure of obstinate dysenteries / by Thomas Houlston. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh. The original may be consulted at the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh.

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    of too dangerous a naftire for a man to wilh to be in poffeffion of. The fame may perhaps be faid refpefting the Woorara poifon, with which the Indians fmear the points of their arrows, which has been mentioned by Dr. Bancroft in his Hi dory of Guiana. The fmalleft particle of this, introduced into the fyftem by a wound, proves inftaritly fatal, and yet an animal fo killed may be fafely eaten, it being no longer a poifon when introduced into the ftomach, r The poifons known amongft ourfelves aft, either mechanically, or chemically ■ on the primae vise, or on the nervous fyftem. Thus pounded glafs has been given, and occafioned certain death, by bringing on inflammation of the ftomach and inteftines : thus fponge has been given, to produce ftoppage of the paflage; and ftrong cauftic alkali, fwallowed haftily by miftake, has been followed by death. The former aft mechanically, only on the parts to which they attain ; the aftion of the cauftic alkali, though chemical, is alfo only topical* and did it not, even in its paflage, before it reaches the ftomach, produce irreparable and fatal mifehief, its power might be lefleried, by B 2 the