POISONING BY STRYCHNINE.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XX, Issue 6667, 31 March 1883, Page 2 (Supplement)

POISONING BY STRYCHNINE.

A ckimin/.l case tried some time ago in Sg Gem: ity having sho-/;, the inadequacy of li| .-eientiti : notions as to strychnine puisomnsr En -d demotion of the pois-ii in putrefying ip bodies, f-.tjr >avants —via., Dr. Kanke, a ft ,;t, j»ml ?»I M. jJt:c:hntT, (,omitBi'san*' and W i.-iu'iius. chemists—hr»re laielv hj.i.Je a i'rr sh experimental study of the Eg wubjejc. >eveiitc?u were caused £acli I^' to sua pill o* o*of> nitrate of Ml* strychnine. 'The sa ii-r.t leatmes o£ the poison 1 :! •/ vr re these : —The tin-e between £\ takn g the anii the first tetanic attack. -1 vaneu Widely, fro:n tive minutes toS.'iminutes. On tlie - ther iiaiul, the int-.-rval hetw ten the L first symptom* am: death varied little. It never reached hall au hour, and the av«rajje r was 3 I minutes. Kace an t weight had no i. iijlltx.-roc on these interva's. Immediately ait».-r death, the e was complete muscular r. resolatio - ; rig-tiny bet in '2{ rdnutes after )"■ deata at the earliest, 'J7 miniVes at the U late>t ; iu-ra.e 50 minutes. It began with ' f: th-; fore limlj.s. lis deration was the same has the other kinds of de *th ; !0 hours after fi d-ath it u;is rapidy diminishing. The -i:-' t taiiio titi were f-_w f two or three generally, ami di*ath alw ;y~ came suddenly luring a fit. Ilic iit.-j lasted « ne minute on an Q .Neve as to search for poison in bodies 3 exfm i«J .-liter, 100, 130, 200. and 3-JO days, i Usini; ;iiet!'od (impruvt u), tiie .mthors wer : uii dde to tLid strychnin*.-. even where ffe o*l graiutm* ha I beer: given to each doe, a fatal d«.»-e even to a maa. P.ut, even in the i' longest bared, the of the ■ : p-iscn l-e assume i from the bitter - : * r e ci thv prod uct obi ined. The physio- • 1 ''e.tctiuii is iufiniteiy more delicate. tracts were distoived in cold wati. d injected under the skiu of frogs, a'd in af- w miuutea these auimals had >i<'lenc tetanic spasms. The action was mor-i , rono-inced the shorter the time the if' annua: th-e extract had betn

I urie l. The i-at-ne of the ground, pcrmeable <<r otherwise, tyii. re the dogs u ere'buried E • riil not ajij'var to influence the physiological It I ruricti -ii of the strychnine in the extract. sf J :he extracts tr<.j«i ve -y i>utri::ed bodies pro- » dueed 'ii tlie a t rjur, with weak and B sluggish movements of the heart, which | retard aud partly mask the action of 8 the atr\c r nine. A critic has suggested that || • ttioy. aik doids, called ptomaines, fouL.d in ». dead bo us, even in some S cases exaggerate "r .simulate the action i of strychnine. While the action of j| putrid mat *_r is eonspicious with B ex racti from the iuteatine, the action of 8> st yc'nnine i? pronounced with extract* ® from the liver and spU-en. Professor fk ■- j Dr.igendorc objected to the method t\±a ffiL* -■■\i i>orsadop:edto liberate thealkaloid — viz., e agitat on with other, then with chloroform 5 and atnylic alcohol, and he has indicated a B ' superior method, enabling to detect O'OOCOOi § [ e, while the jf cal researches require at least O'OOC'OiM tf gramme. Titiu he considers cheraical analy- C sis the more -ieliciite tnet r od. g