CICUTA MACULATA.
Cicuta maculata, Linn. Nat. order,
Umbelliferæ.
Common names
, Water hemlock, spotted cowbane, beaver poison,
musquash.
Preparation
, Tincture of the root gathered in summer.
Authorities.
1, Charles A.
Lee, poisoning of two boys from eating the root, Jour. of Mat. Med., May, 1871 (Am. Obs., 8,
412); 2, Montreal Med. Gaz., 1844, Hempel’s Mat. Med.,
2, 183, eating the root; 3, N. E. Med. Gaz., 7, 219,
eating the root.
MIND.
► Fell on their way,
and were picked up unconscious (after one hour), [1].
HEAD.
► Dizziness (after
one hour), [1].
EYE.
► Eyes wild and
staring, [1]. ►
Pupils dilated to the utmost extent, [1].
FACE.
► Face very livid,
and even purple, from congestion, [1]. ► Whole face puffed and bloated, resembling the appearance of
the head of a person who has been drowned (two cases), (after two hours), [2]. ► Jaws rigidly fixed (two
cases), (after two hours), [2].
MOUTH.
► Bloody froth
issued from mouth and nose, [1].
STOMACH.
► Extreme nausea
(after half an hour), [2]. ►
Sickness of stomach (after one hour), [1]. ► Vomiting (one case), [2].
► Vomited a frothy, glairy fluid, [1]. ► Puked, and brought up a
teacupful of masticated root, [3]. ► Burning pain at epigastrium (after half an hour), [2].
ABDOMEN.
► Pain in bowels, [3]. ► Colicky pains in
bowels (after half an hour), [2].
RECTUM AND ANUS.
► Felt as
if he had a call to a dejection, but on going to stool he could do nothing, [3].
RESPIRATORY ORGANS.
►
Stertorous breathing (two cases), (after two hours), [2].
HEART AND PULSE.
► Pulse
intermitting, sometimes imperceptible (two cases), (after two hours), [2]. ► Scarcely any pulse
perceptible, [1].
GENERAL SYMPTOMS.
► Violent
spasms (after one hour), [1]. ►
Every muscle of the body affected with powerful clonic spasms, contracting and then
partially relaxing with wonderful rapidity; his movements required four strong men to
control; no cessation to the spasms, [1]. ► Tetanic convulsions (two cases), (after two hours), [2]. ► Fell backwards in
convulsions, which with various remissions and exacerbations continued till he died; they
consisted of tremors, violent contractions and distortions, with alternate and imperfect
relaxations of the whole muscular system, astonishing mobility of the eyeballs and
eyelashes, with widely dilated pupils, stridor dentium, trismus, frothing at mouth and nose,
mixed with blood, and occasionally violent and genuine epilepsy; the convulsive agitations
were so powerful and incessant that I could not examine his pulse with sufficient constancy
to ascertain its character, [3].
SLEEP AND DREAMS.
►
Complete coma (two cases), (after two hours), [2].
FEVER.
► Head hot, [1]. ► Profuse sweat, [3]. ► Body covered with
sweat, [1].
SUPPLEMENT: CICUTA MACULATA.
Authorities.
4, G. W.
Wright, Bost. Med. Intelligencer, vol. ii, 1825, p. 171, poisoning of a youth; 5, “W.,” Bost. Med. and Surg. Journ., vol. x, 1834, p.
107, a man chewed and swallowed about 15 grains of the green root; 6,
Dr. John Stockbridge, New Eng. Journ. of Med. and Surg., vol. iii, p. 334, a boy, æt.
fifteen years, ate about 1 drachm of the root; 7, same,
a boy, æt. seven years, ate about 1/2 drachm of root; 8,
a boy, æt. five years, ate about the same quantity; 9,
G. W. Norman, M.D., Virginia Med. Month., fatal poisoning of a young man, æt. seventeen
years, by the root.
MIND.
► Delirium (after
half an hour), [5]. [30.]
► Entirely insensible, [9].
HEAD.
► Began to feel queer
about the head (after half an hour), [5].
EYE.
► Eyes glassy and
wandering, [4]. ►
Pupils dilated, [7], [9].
► Pupils were greatly dilated, and did not contract when
a candle was presented, [8]. ►
Pupils dilated and insensible, [4]. ► Eyes too sensible to light (after half an hour), [5].
FACE.
► Countenance pale, [7]. ► Deathly paleness,
resembling that of a drowned person, [8]. ► Jaws locked, [4].
MOUTH.
[40.] ► Frothing at the mouth, [9].
THROAT.
► Muscles of
deglutition spasmodically affected, on presenting any substance to the mouth, [4].
STOMACH.
► Nausea and
vomiting, [4]. ►
Vomiting, [5], [6],
[8]. ► Sick at the
stomach (after one hour), [9]. ►
Vomiting several times, [7]. ►
Ejections of frothy mucus, mixed with a dark flocculent sediment and blood, [4]. ► Every few minutes he
complained of a sensation of universal distress, with oppression of the stomach, [7].
STOOL.
► Inclination to
stool, [6].
RESPIRATORY ORGANS.
►
Stertorous breathing, [9].
PULSE.
[50.] ► Pulse hardly perceptible, [4].
► Pulse very feeble, 65, [7].
► Pulse 50 to the minute, [9].
► The pulse was almost, and at times quite imperceptible,
[8]. ► Pulse before
the convulsion 51, and of the ordinary strength, afterwards weak; could not be felt during
the convulsion, [5].
GENERALITIES.
► Frequent
twitching of the muscles of the body and extremities, [8].
► Constant jactitation, [4].
► Antagonizing muscles alternately convulsed, drawing the
eyes and angles of the mouth right and left, in quick succession, [4]. ► Convulsions, [4]. ► Violent convulsive fits,
with frothing at the mouth, which continued for about an hour and a half, when he died, [6]. [60.] ► Convulsion of a decidedly epileptic kind, lasting four or
five minutes, marked by frothing at the mouth, distorted, livid countenance, and short
spasms of all the muscles (after half an hour), [5]. ► Several convulsions at intervals of ten or fifteen minutes, [9].
SLEEP.
► Inclination to
sleep, [7]. ►
During the intervals of vomiting he lay in a deep sleep, [8].
FEVER.
► Whole body and
extremities cold, [8]. ►
Extremities cold, [4].® 2000
Article