Science.

Alexandra Herald and Central Otago Gazette, Issue 429, 11 August 1904, Page 6

Science.

POISONS. •S^ 0E the purpose of this article, we Qjjfcip shall Bay that any substance which aiv9 1B injurious to health, when introduced Snto the system, or applied to the body, i& a poison. It is necessary to make soma statement of this kind, baoauseof the curious fact that the laws of this country fail to define a poison. Bat it may be remarked on reading the above definition, a r«d hot iron applied to the body would be injurious to health, yet it would not be considered a poison; also a bullet from a rifia, when introduced into the body is certainly calculated to disturb the health, yet it is not exactly understood as a poison. Therefore to complete our definition we must exclude the external application of extremes of temperature, and all internal is juries produced by mechanical means. This will leave us with something like what is popularly understood when speaking of aaythiig as being of a poisonous nature. Medical men have frequently to nuke use of powerful poisons in their medicines, and certain cases require them to do so to an extent which would constitute legal poisoning in the hands of the general public. The safety of patients in such instances, depends entirely upon the doctors taking into consideration the age and strength, as well as the peculiar circumstances under which the drug is administered. The lack of such considerations renders it extremely dangerous for people to physic themselves with 'Tabloids' containing drugs which are of an unquestionably poisonous nature. Only quite recently I was summoned to a man who was experiencing great difficulty in breathing, in fact his respiratory organs were paralysed through hi 3 haviag overdosed himself with tabloids of ' sulphonal,' which he had been taking for the purpose of procuring sleep. It may be considered as quite beyond dispute that there is no more certain and rapid means of parting with good health than the indiscriminate use of powerful drugs without the prescription of a medical man. There are other ways, however, in which a person may be poisoned, than as a result of his own persistent folly. Such things as accidents occur even in well-regulated families. A. month cr so ago an arxicue mother came to me with a modicino bottle containing what looked t xictly like water, and stated that she had administered a dcse of the., liquid to her child, whom ebe considered very ill in consequance. On csutiouely tasting the flaid I suspected its nature, acd on applying the usual tests discovered that it a strong solution of lead. I immediately went cflC to the little patient and emptied the stomach, acd happily no further ill effects resulted. At the house I learned that because a certain bottle was required for seme other purp< S3, the remains of an old lead lotion had been emptied into a disused medicine bottle, and the mother had evidently used this by mistake. This is not an isolated case, for similar accidents are of frequent occurrence, although doctors and druggists put harmful drugs into coloured and peculiar shapsd bottles and attach to them a special label. Again.—Cases not infrequently occur of severe poisoning from articles of food; asd scarcely a week passes in the practice of a busy medical man without one or more such canes requiring his attention. The food is most frequently some kind of fieh, but it may be any sort of tinaed goods ; and occasionally a case occurs in which the trouble is traceable to other kinds of food, not excluding butcher's meat, poultry, cheese, or fruits. Such instances are what is generally called ■ptomaine' poisoning (the word being derived from the Greek «ptoma,' acorpsf) The ptomaines themselves are transition products in the process of putrefaction. They are still subject to further investigation, but it is now fairly established ' that they are the product of bacteria acting on the normal constituents of animal bodies. The foods which more frequently contain ptomaines are mussels, oysters, eels, sausage ham, tinned msate, cheese, acd milk; and fatal results have many times followed when they have b?en eat9n. Ore may easily recall other examples of accidental poisoning resulting from things as " l J£B&rijtfKtittUt/BBSS8B£? ' HB BSM ||gr Be ml Bf Bgu Hr ||t Bfe !»•