Flora Medica

URTICACEJE.exhalations of the tree. It is asserted that tumours, pustules attendedby intolerable itching, and severe inflammation of the eyes attack thosewho fell the trees. Blume considers it to act chiefly upon the vascularsystem, and he describes the symptoms attending its administration inthe following words: The poison of the Antjar acts differently upon differentanimals, which may be owing more to certain peculiarities of organisationor to the chemical nature of their fluids, than to the quantity ofpoison they absorb. Thus the more robust mammalia, such as theSos Karabouw, are killed more slowly than dogs ;and these resist theaction of the poison longer than apes, cats, bats, and some kinds ofbirds even of the larger kinds which perish rapidly, while fowls, &c.,are little affected by it,and either recover or die after a much longertime than any of the above-mentioned animals, even mammalia. Thepeculiar nature of different kinds of animals will explain this in a greatdegree; and renders the symptoms attending the operation of thepoison far from being always the same. Those observed in mammaliaare as follows : in a short time, only a few minutes after the animalhas been wounded with either the prepared or the crude poison, itbecomes anxious and restless, is attacked by frequent shiverings, andexpresses its pain by moanings and loud cries, while the intestines arein the meanwhile emptied of their contents. This is followed by faintness,panting, contraction of the extremities, a flow of mucous salivafrom the mouth, attempts at vomiting, violent spasmodic contractionsof the pectoral and abdominal muscles, and then a vomiting of a yellowor whitish frothy matter occasionally mixed with faeces. At last breathingbecomes much interrupted, the debility of the muscles and the painreach their highest point, urine and other excrements are dischargedinvoluntarily, and in the midst of convulsions death ensues. Dissectionexhibits the following symptoms: Traces of inflammation are perceptiblewhere the poison has reached among the muscles, which appearbloodshot. The skin and the muscles of many animals destroyed bythis poison, especially the pectoral muscles, tremble under the dissectingknife. The colour o'f the muscles, especially at the extremities, is palerthan when healthy. A small quantity of serous fluid is found in thecavity of the abdomen. More blood than usual is injected into thevessels of the intestines, especially of the liver, and, if the poison hasbeen absorbed slowly, and not with sudden violence, of the stomachalso ;but the vessels of the latter are less distended with blood whendeath has taken place among violent convulsions without previousvomiting. In that case also the stomach is not so much distended withgas as when the poison has been slow in its operation, nor is itsinterior lining so much covered with a yellow frothy substance. Butit is principally in the pectoral cavity that a morbid appearance isobservable, the blood being congested in the lungs and all the largervessels, as the aorta, the vena cava, and the arteries and veins of thelungs. The colour of the lungs is healthy the blood of the aorta;and arteries is duly oxydated, and spirts out witli violence when theyare punctured, congealing presently afterwards. The colour of theblood of the veins is dull as usual. The brain exhibits no trace of thepoison, unless a slight congestion of blood in the dura mater is to beascribed to it.Notwithstanding its virulence the concrete juice has been usedmedicinally: but even in minute doses it produces violent vomitingand purging, and seems to be too dangerous to be employed except withextreme caution.302