CHENOPODIUM ANTHELMINTICUM.
Chenopodium anthelminticum, Linn. Natural order,
Chenopodiaceæ; Common name, Wormseed.
Preparation
, Trituration of the seeds.
Authority.
Dr. Jeanes, Raue’s Record, 1872, p. 30.
►
Pains through the breast, under the right scapula, and in
the right shoulder. ► Pain in the head and eyes;
neuralgia. ► *The slight dull pain a little lower than the
inferior angle of the right scapula, but nearer the spine has been proved to be
important. (Jeanes.)
SUPPLEMENT: CHENOPODIUM ANTHELMINTICUM.
Authorities.
2, P. T. T.,
Bost. Med. and Surg. Journ., vol. xlv, 1851, p. 373, poisoning of a child; 3, Mr. Wm. Smith, Pharm. Journ., Sec. Ser., vol. iv, 1862, p.
330, a man took about half an ounce; 4, T. R. Brown,
M.D., Maryland Med. Journ., November, 1878, p. 20, Mr. X. æt. thirty-one years, took about
1 1/2 ounces of wormseed oil, and 30 drops of turpentine, death in five days.►
The symptoms were those of a narcotico-acrid poison,
affecting the brain, spinal system, and stomach. He was insensible, convulsed, and foaming
at the mouth; he, however, recovered under the use of emetics, combined with stimulants and
demulcents. All remembrance of having taking the poison was completly wanting on recovery, [3]. ► Deep, heavy,
stertorous breathing, accompanied by a very peculiar rattle, as if there were a ball rolling
loose in the trachea; pulse small, weak, frequent, and feeble; eyes insensible to light, or
even external objects; convulsive movements of the right half of the body; extremities cold;
any attempt at deglutition threatened instant suffocation, [2].
► Disagreeable eructations; nausea; staggering like a
drunken man when walking; deafness to the sound of the voice, but exquisite sensitiveness to
the sounds of passing vehicles; he remarked as each vehicle rolled by that it sounded like
the roaring of immense cannons right into his ear; also annoying buzzing in ears. His manner
in smoking was peculiar. He would scarcely light the cigar before he would lay it down
again, and take a fresh one, arguing clearly some perversion in taste. This was kept up
until interdicted, and by the afternoon his mantel-piece was strewn with cigars only
slightly used. Not the least disposition to engage in conversation. To one of his attendants
he showed signs of distinct aphasia. He clearly wanted him to get or do something for him,
but could not make himself understood. His friend replied by writing, “Don’t
understand,” at the same time handing him the paper and pencil with which to make known
his wish. After holding them in his hand in a pensive state for some minutes, with a sort of
flourish, he wrote in a perfectly distinct hand, “The paper mu,” waited awhile,
and then with a painful expression of the realization of his difficulty, returned the
materials and lay down. I then repeated the attempt by asking him what medicine he had
bought while away from home. After similar preliminaries as before he only managed to write
two letters, “Th.” In reply to my question as to how he felt, he responded,
“I feel all right.” The latter, like the other words, were written in a perfectly
distinct manner. During all this time his deafness, as described, was progressive, and
became so pronounced as to make it impossible to talk to him. Still there was the same kind
of sensitiveness to other sounds. For example, when the tea-bell rang, though he was in the
third-story, three flights from where the sound came, he, without notice from members of his
family, to their utter astonishment, got up and walked as deliberately as ever into the
dining-room. He did not seem to know his accustomed seat, and sat at the wrong place. During
the afternoon the aphasia was complete, so that he no longer found it possible to express
his ideas to any one, which seemed to amuse him very much, as he laughed heartily. His
behavior all this time deserves comment. Whatever he did he would keep repeating it for a
considerable time. When I entered the room he rose, shook me cordially and firmly by the
hand, and then took his seat. In about a minute he arose, solemnly came forward and again
shook hands with me, so that by twenty minutes he had shaken hands with me as many times. He
then began to wash his hands, and though the basin contained no water, he went through the
form of using soap and wiping with a towel as often as a dozen times in one hour. Many acts
of similar import might be offered, some of which I observed and others were described by
members of his family. I joined the patient at tea for the purpose of watching what up to
this time had been to me an unsolved mystery. He appeared to relish his food, taking singly
tea and bread. Towards the close of the meal, while grasping a fragment of bread, there was
a distinct spasm of the right forearm and hand. His fingers were firmly clenched, and his
hand forcibly flexed on the forearm. He was assisted to his room, his walk entirely natural,
and when being placed on his bed he showed some resistance in striking at me. He at once
commenced to groan, drawn himself up, and tossed from side to side of the bed, suggesting
abdominal distress. He soon became unconscious, and from his movements in bed it was clear
that he was paralyzed in the right arm. This member was dragged helplessly after him, as my
attention was first called to it by a looker on. The next day there continued impairment of
motion and sensation of the right side, together with insensibility to touch of the right
eyeball. During the third day there were frequent twitchings and stiffness of the right
limbs, these culminated in a unilateral convulsion at daylight on the fourth day. At about
noon of the third day he passed, as he continued to do to the end, except when drawn off, a
large quantity of urine involuntarily in bed. In the afternoon the heavy breathing, with
flopping of the cheeks, of apoplexy appeared. There was also more or less constant
regurgitation of yellow frothy material from the mouth, which like the evacuation from his
skin smelled of wormseed. The accumulation of this material would at times be so profuse as
to embarrass respiration. During one of the attacks of dyspnœa, and while in a drenching
sweat, which suggested the approach of dissolution, he was gently turned in bed, immediately
a general convulsion, markedly opisthotonic, appeared, lasting about two minutes, despite
the use of chloroform. By this time a decided icterus appeared, which had been only noticed
the day before. He died about five days from the beginning of his illness in a profound
coma, and with a high temperature in his axilla, [4].® 2000
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