American Materia Medica, Therapeutics and Pharmacognosy

There are universal chills, rose-colored spots on face, breast and arms;
lividity and swelling of the face, with trismus and bloody froth from
mouth and nostrils, stertorous breathing, coma, death.
Autopsies performed on patients dead from the accidental use of this
agent have shown an engorgement of the blood vessels of the brain and
cord. There was effusion of blood and bloody serum in the occipital
foramen. The sinuses of the dura mater and the veins of the pia mater
also were distended with blood, as were also the sinuses of the vertebrae.
There were apoplectic foci in the cerebral mass. There was serous
effusion in the cellular tissue beneath the arachnoid, in the ventricles
and at the base of the brain.
Therapy—The agent acquired a reputation in the treatment of epilepsy.
It has cured a few violent cases and very many cases of petit mal. Fisk
reported five cases cured, and other trustworthy investigators have had
similar results. It is indicated in those cases which, instead of fullness of
the capillary vessels of the brain and spinal cord, there is anemia of these
organs more or less marked. This distinction was made by Henning, and
is an important one.
It has proved of value in cases where epilepsy has resulted from injury, in
cases where there is an impairment of the brain structure and imperfect
cerebral circulation with impairment of the nutrition of the brain.
It has not increased in reputation, nor has our knowledge of its action
increased greatly during the past fifteen years. It deserves a closer
investigation.
OLIVE Olea europea
Part Employed—A fixed oil from the pericarp.
Therapy—Olive oil or sweet oil is a nutritive and laxative for children. It
must be given in doses of one or two tablespoonful. It can be flavored and
rendered palatable. It may be given whenever irritating substances are
retained in the intestinal tract and when convulsions are present from
gastro-intestinal irritation. It can do no harm. Violent and profound
convulsions with acute enteritis, from swallowing the seeds of grapes,
have been controlled at once by the writer, with large doses oil internally,
and by using rectal injections of the oil very warm, large quantities of the
seeds being removed and the local irritation soothed.
Ellingwood’s American Materia Medica, Therapeutics and Pharmacognosy - Page 308