What to do in cases of poisoning / by William Murrell.

  • Murrell, William, 1853-1912.
Date:
1897
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: What to do in cases of poisoning / by William Murrell. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    18/312 (page 6)
    The circumstances affecting or modifying the action of a poison are :— 1. Tolerance or Habit. 2. Idiosyncrasy. 3. Age and condition of health. 4. Form of administration and mode of in- troduction into the system. How can you tell from what poison the patient is suffering? Sometimes nothing is more easy, whilst at others it is extremely difficult to arrive at a correct conclusion. A search for the bottle which contained the poison, or an enquiry of the nearest chemist may help you, whilst a knowledge of the sufferer’s habits and disposition may prove of some assistance. The diagnosis is not always so easy as it looks at first sight. For example, you are called in to a patient who is evidently suffering from the effects of some narcotic poison, and on a table close at hand you find a hypodermic syringe, and a bottle of morphine: you conclude at once that it is a case of morphine poisoning, but you may be wrong. The patient had intended to kill him- self that way, but dreading the trifling pain of the puncture, or not being expert in the use of the syringe, changed his mind at the last