FoodNet

The housekeeper's companion

1883

Page 295 · 1 recipe record on this page

Presented as published in 1883. Historical recipes may not meet modern food-safety standards. Cook from the modern interpretation, not the original instructions.
Laburnum {Cyitalisus Laburnum). — Symptoms. — Pain in the stomach, followed by vomiting and severe convulsions if the dose has been a large one. There is also shivering, great feebleness, and severe purging. Treatment. — The vomiting should be encouraged by muci- lage, milk, white of an egg, flour and water. Should the feebleness be very great, cordials and brandy should be given in repeated and small doses. The bark and seeds of this plant are poisonous, and owe their deleterious properties to an active principle called Cytisine. Meadow Saffron [Colchicum autumnale). — Symptoms. — A burning pain in the gullet and stomach, violent vomiting, and sometimes bilious purging. Treatment. — Give some mild emetic, thus: Ipecacuanha wine, one-half ounce; honey, i tablespoonful; milk, a teacup- fulMild Emetic for Meadow Saffron Poisoning. Stir up and mix thoroughly, and let the patient take it at a draught. This should be repeated every quarter of an hour till vomiting sets in. Of course the dose of ipecacuanha wine should be smaller for children, one-half or one-fourth of the above quantity being ample for a child under five years old. 400 MEDICINAL. Then give opium as follows (to adults only) ; Powdered opium, 3 grains; confection of dog rose, sufficient to make a small mass with the opium. Divide this into six pills, and let the patient have one every four hours, until the symptoms of poisoning abate. Or, tincture of opium, i fluid drachm; water, to six fluid ounces. Mix. Two tablespoonfuls to be taken every two hours. Mushrooms {Fungi). — Symptoms. — Pain in the stomach accompanied with vomiting, giddiness, drowsiness, dimness of sight, and debility. The patient appears to be intoxicated. Treatment. — This cannot be better expressed than in the terse and plain terms of Professor Taylor. They are: "The free use of emetics and castor oil." Nux Vomica {Strychnine). — Symptoms. — An intensely bitter taste in the mouth. Tipsy manner, sickness, headache, jerking of the arms and legs, and twitching of the body; lock- jaw, great difficulty in breathing, with intense pain in the chest, and a sense of suffocation. Treatment. — Evacuate the stomach and bowels. Give vinegar (see Deadly Nightshade) and other acidulous drinks. If the spasm be very severe and constant, and do not yield to the emetics, etc., then try injections of infusions of tobacco, as follows: Tobacco (shag), 30 grains; water, 8 fluid ounces. Mix, and allow to stand for half an hour, occasionally shaking. Then strain and inject into the bowel in the intervals of the spasms. Strychnia is one of the most deadly poisons, a very small quantity being capable of killing a strong man. Opium. — An extract from the poppy. {Papaver Somniferd). — Symptoms. — Drowsiness, stupor, delirium, pallid counte- nance, contracted pupil, sighing, loud or snoring respiration, cold sweats, coma, and death.