Читать книгу Pharmacologia онлайн

201 страница из 211

“Media fert tristes succos tardumque saporem

Felicis Mali: quo non præsentius ullum

(Pocula si quando sævæ infecere novercæ

Miscueruntque herbas, et non innoxia verba)

Auxilium venit, ac membris agit atra venena.”

“Nor be the Citron, Media’s boast unsung,

Though harsh the juice, and ling’ring on the tongue.

When the drug’d bowl mid witching curses brew’d

Wastes the pale youth by step-dame hate pursu’d,

Its powerful aid unbinds the mutter’d spell

And frees the victim from the draught of hell.”

Chardin, in his travels through Persia, informs us that when a Persian finds himself in a distressed situation, he has recourse to a piece of opium as large as the thumb, and that immediately afterwards he drinks a glassful of vinegar; by which he is thrown into a fit of laughter, terminating in convulsions and death.

With regard to the use of Antidotes, it has been already stated how little they are to be depended upon; in certain cases, however, we are bound to acknowledge their power, but they should be very rarely trusted, unless subsequent to, or in conjunction with, the operation of an emetic; in many cases the effects of this latter remedy may be promoted by the ingestion of liquids holding the particular antidote in solution, a practice which offers the double advantage of accelerating the elimination of the poison, and at the same time of decomposing any which may remain. Orfila has fully established the fact of Albumen being a counter-poison to Corrosive Sublimate; vomiting may therefore be very judiciously promoted in cases of such poisoning by water holding the white of egg in solution; with equal effect, where Verdegris has been swallowed, sugared water may be used as a diluent to encourage emesis; and Muriate of Soda in solution will be found the most efficient antidote to Nitrate of Silver; and Sulphate of Magnesia to Acetate of Lead. Where an emetic salt, like Tartarized Antimony, has been taken, copious dilution with common water will in general so provoke vomiting, as to render it its own antidote; but it may be useful to remember, that the Infusion of Galls, and according to Berthollet, the Decoctions of Bark, at the temperature of from 30° to 40° Fah. have the power of decomposing it; while Orfila considers milk the most efficient counter-poison to the Sulphate of Zinc.