Hoe Poison Works

Hokitika Guardian, 12 January 1923, Page 4

Hoe Poison Works

(i!y a .L'iiy.sician.) hi C.neeciioi, with the attempt to poison Sir William Ihuwoud, the (. o.n-mi.-smm rol loln-c. the statement has ;made that the amount ol poi-ou taken Vas suliicicut to have prov. d : fatal in an. average ease. (pi of ;he problems ivaich laces the ex j eri in all poisoning eases i ,; a Toihev the poi.s r. found w: s sitflit ient. t , Hi. For ill the common 1, ;-:.,i . i here i- a figure v liicii is called I:!., “idniiii. in I rial d ■ : -e. I his is h -ed i.n re smallest .lose which the records show to hate caused the don Lit of an iuuvidir i. Ttul minimum fatal doses must be taken into calculation only with other if: . tors. Tiie do-e of a drug which would he imioem.us in Ihe ease of a - healthy ad li might prove fatal to a ■hit.' oi a debilitated only man. Anurl from the question of age and physical condition, bulk of body rl-o plays a part. Experiments on animals, such as those of Rale!; with strychnine and Guinurd with morphia show that tlm fatal dose of drugs depends vorv largely np the weight of the animal. So well established is this (hat, in es- j timating flie susceptibility of animals to ■ poisons, it is usual to state i he nm-mof of poison per kilogramme v •• '• produced symptoms of poisoning.

I |t. is pfobnbio that this applies also : t.. hr.nvm « only. ik! that, a art *rori* i-s.istnn:-v >ho I.< lienlth, nhy.siquo il; Vs a .areal ' art i ". « nvdin;: off the .-i ,•(, of i! rci-i ii. Sir William Mor■.i'.kl is a iran of lino ■ by i •• i devoli [»- n: al, and tli- dose of a druo widen voaid ljo .fat I to an ordinary individ 1 - ij miaht ivid! cause only severe illness a lils case. Tli-c motliod of adinini-M ration and li e time at which tin' poison was administered also liave an odert on its I callable fatality. Patrons are most • iri-.ly a!.•sorbed into the s.vst. m when • I.ey are inhaled, hut this, of course, iapplicable only to those poisi its whr.m act throne).. the lHtljts. The next most rapid method ol toisonino is that hv injection at • the blood si ream. Poisons pvon by the month and those applied to the f'il.mken skin are much slower lit t'tetr action. Tito rapidity with wliieli a pmsmi •> a .sorbed has an important inhm iue • I the issue for if a drily: he slowly .o,sorlxd the svstom is not ealle 1 upon to deal w'ich a. rapid and comi.ntraied onslaught. hut only v.u.i sm.ili amounts arriving at: inter.-,ds. (liber fatalities; which must he taken into consideration are the r loom >’t -In. inirpstion of the poisonous mai rial, if it sains entrance to the system by the stomach, to the ms. aicah A'full stomach may be ot yfat: importance to the result ol poi-.mmp. The mentality of the | min ot m poisoning cases, as in ail tllocsscs. has an important irdluence on the y'' ■ .. ;11 lo live is demonstrated (Vi.rlv in many cases, and is ■ t'.eii « of the most powerful allies tin ductoi can have.