that it is poisonous to animals of all classes,—horses, dogs, cats, rabbits, jackdaws, starlings, frogs, snails, and flies;—that it acts in whatever way it is introduced into the system,—by the stomach, rectum, windpipe, nostrils, pleural membrane of the chest, an external wound, or the veins;—that it produces in every instance symptoms of irritation in the alimentary canal, and injury of the nervous system;—and that it is very active, three grains of the extract applied to the nostrils of a cat having killed it in sixteen hours.[1]
Symptoms in Man.—Its effects on man are similar. A singular account of several cases of poisoning with the root is contained in Rust's Journal. A family of eight people, in consequence of eating bread for a whole week, in which the powder of the root had been introduced by mistake instead of cumin seeds, were attacked with pains in the belly, a sensation as if the whole intestines were wound up into a clue, swelling of the tongue, soreness of the mouth, and giddiness; but they all recovered by changing the bread and taking gentle laxatives.[2]
Another set of cases of a more aggravated nature, though still not fatal, is given in Horn's Archives.[3] Three people took the root by mistake for galanga. The symptoms that ensued were characteristic of its double action. In an hour they all had burning in the throat, gullet, and stomach, followed by nausea, dysuria, and vomiting; weakness and stiffness of the limbs; giddiness, blindness, and dilated pupil; great faintness, convulsive breathing, and small pulse. One of them, an elderly woman, who took the largest share, had an imperceptible pulse, stertorous breathing, and total insensibility even to ammonia held under the nose. Next day she continued lethargic, complained of headache, and had an eruption like flea-bites. A fatal case is quoted by Bernt from Schuster's Medical Journal. A man took twice as much as could be held on the point of a knife, was attacked with violent and incessant vomiting, and lived only from morning till night. The gullet, stomach, and colon were here and there inflamed.[4]
No detailed inquiry has yet been made respecting the properties of cevadilla; but there can be no doubt that it will prove an energetic poison, similar in its effects to white hellebore, and probably more active. Wibmer quotes Villemet for the fact, that half a drachm of the seeds excites vomiting and convulsions in the cat and dog, and Lentin for the case of a child, who died in convulsions in consequence of the powder having been used inwardly and outwardly.[5]
The alkaloid, veratria, has been made the subject of experiment by various physiologists. The most complete investigation yet undertaken is that of Dr. Esche;[6] who found that it causes in a few minutes restlessness, anxiety, salivation, slowness and irregularity of the pulse, slow respiration, nausea, violent vomiting, borborygmus,
- ↑ De Effectibus Ver. alb. et Hell. nigri. Tubingæ, 1817.
- ↑ Mag. für die gesammte Heilkunde, xiv. 547.
- ↑ Archiv für Mediz. Erfahrung, 1825.
- ↑ Beiträge zur Gerichtl. Arzneik. iv. 47.
- ↑ Die Wirkung der Arzneimittel und Gifte, v. 437.
- ↑ Diss. Inaug. De Veratriæ Ellectibus, Lipsiæ, 1836, quoted by Wibmer, v. 434.
