Toxicologist

“ It is well known that the habitual consumption of certain drugs, such as tobacco, Indian hemp, opium, arsenic, alcohol and many others, gradually induces a condition of tolerance to their effects, so that large doses can be taken without causing symptoms of poisoning. In all cases, however, there is a limit, and after it is reached the ordinary effects of these substances are seen. Some individuals, however, never become tolerant, and show poisonous effects on each repetition of the dose. ”

“ Accum’s time, with some success; yet nothing is more certain than that a very large proportion of the food we eat, of the liquid we drink—always excepting good well-filtered water—and the medicines we take, not to say a word about the clothes we wear and the miscellaneous merchandise we use, is more or less adulterated with cheaper materials. Sometimes these are merely harmless; as flour, starch, annatto, lard, etc.; sometimes they are vigorous, destructive poisons—as red lead, arsenic, strychnine, oil of vitriol, potash, etc. ”

“ They would limit prohibition to the more deadly stimulants, not dreaming that the fatal habit is sure to reproduce its fruit from the smallest germs; that the poison-vice, in fact, is infallibly progressive, ever tending to goad the morbid craving of the toper to stronger and stronger poisons or to a constant increase in the quantity of the wonted stimulant: from cider to brandy, from laudanum to morphine, from tonic bitters to rum, from a glass of wine to a dozen bottles, from beer and tobacco to the vilest tipples of the dram-shop. ”

“ Among the poisons which must be kept out of the body should be mentioned habit-forming drugs, such as opium, morphine, cocain, heroin, chloral, acetanilid, alcohol, caffein, and nicotin. The best rule for those who wish to attain the highest physical and mental efficiency is total abstinence from all substances which contain poisons, including spirits, wine, beer, tobacco, many much-advertised patent drinks served at soda-water fountains, most patent medicines, and even coffee and tea. ”

“ As for those unfortunate chiefs, I have not the slightest doubt that they have been removed by poison—some secret and comparatively slow but deadly poison, and I intend to make it my first business to discover what that poison is, and its antidote—if I can. The chances are, however, that I shall fail, for almost all the savage peoples possess a great deal more knowledge of drugs, and especially of poisons, than we civilised folk are aware of, or are inclined to credit them with ”

“ It is indeed high time that the medical profession raised, with one accord, its voice in solemn protest against the use of all nerve-obtunding and felicity producing drugs, which are all, without exception, toxic agents, working mischief and only mischief in the human body."—Dr. ”

“ Thus, in the course of his examination, the analyst has made a number of decoctions, in one of which the poison is certain to be. In each decoction there may be any one of several groups of poisons.
In which is it, and what is it? After all this patient labour the solution is still far off. It may be a ptomaine from poisonous fish or decayed meat, a deadly berry, or leaf, or root, a small quantity of morphia, or phosphorus, or lead, or arsenic, or antimony.
Each brew is tested in turn. ”

“ Here, then, it can be clearly seen that there is great danger in employing physicians who love intoxicating drinks, tobacco, or opium in any form; for they believe in the efficacy of these poisons, and they will often prescribe them when a physician not addicted to their use would not think of doing so.
I have alluded to some of the dangers which attend and the evils which often result from the Allopathic treatment of diseases. Every one can see that they are formidable enough and that they merit the serious attention of every lover of his race. ”

“ Allowing his patient therefore apparently credit for the truth of his suspicions, the medical attendant should request him to give a full history of existing symptoms, of 86their origin and progress, of their relation in point of time to various meals, and of the mode and vehicle in which the supposed poison was administered. No unprofessional person can possibly go through such a narrative, without stating many circumstances which are wholly irreconcilable with the idea of poisoning generally, and still more of the administration of a particular poison. ”

“ It was for that reason that I was enabled to administer an antidote without making an exact diagnosis. Now, as you are well aware, toxicology is a very strange study. Even common table-salt is a poison, and has caused death. ”

“ Equally true is it that the man or woman who makes use of such drugs as alcohol, opium, chloral, and such like, in an intemperate manner, contains these poisons in solution in the blood, circulating to every part of the body, and thus bathing and profoundly influencing the germ-cells. In consequence of this fact an acquired and habitual intemperance will seldom fail to leave its impress upon one or more of the offspring, either like the original vice or one very closely allied to it. ”

“ Before quitting the subject, however, I have to add, that there is another purpose, besides procuring direct evidence, to which experiments with animals may be applied with great propriety;—namely, the settling disputed questions regarding the physiological and pathological properties of a particular poison. The science of toxicology is not yet by any means so perfect, but in particular cases topics may arise, which have not hitherto been investigated, and which it may be necessary to determine by experiment. ”

“ Know your drug, know your dose, and know its effect, and you can, with the aid of your hypodermic, play with men and women just as you please. The world itself is but a plaything in the hands of the clever practitioner who specializes in toxicology. ”

“ Hence the word “pharmaco-therapy” has come into use, and most of the newer standard textbooks combine together the consideration of pharmacology and therapeutics. Pharmacology is also related to toxicology, as many remedial and other agents are more or less poisonous when given in large doses, but it does not include the detection, tests, and the other strictly medico-legal aspects of poisoning. ”

“ One of the best remedies, and one which it is to be hoped will eventually come to pass is, that the Legislature should render poisons less easy of purchase, by restricting the sale of every drug or compound in the nature of a poison to the properly qualified chemist, who, by his training and special knowledge, is alone competent to sell these substances. Incalculable harm is done by habits such as we have alluded to, and it is better often to endure pain and torment, than to fly constantly to what in the end will only inflict worse punishment. ”

“ It is often used to indicate fierce anger. The verse mentioned in Job is obviously a reference to the very ancient practice of dipping arrows into some poison, an application of pharmacy from which we derive our term toxicology. ”

“ The poor man was extremely ill, and died in twenty-four hours. The coroner's beadle went to the chemist and said: 'How did you come to sell this man poison?' He replied, 'I sold him no poison; I thought he47 was off his head when he came.' 'What did you give him?' 'Oh, I gave him some alum and cream of tartar and labelled it poison.' He swallowed this, in the belief it was arsenic," says Sir Richard. "When I made the post-mortem examination, to my amazement I found a great deal of arsenic in the stomach. ”

“ One day the professor was lecturing on poisons, and he showed his students some alkaloid, as he called it, which he had extracted from some South American arrow poison, and which was so powerful that the least grain meant instant death. I spotted the bottle in which this preparation was kept, and when they were all gone, I helped myself to a little of it. I was a fairly good dispenser, so I worked this alkaloid into small, soluble pills, and each pill I put in a box with a similar pill made without the poison. ”

“ Of the minerals, arsenic, antimony, mercury, gold, silver, copper, and lead were used by the Greeks; the antidote recommended15 in case of poisoning being hot oil, and other methods to induce vomiting and prevent the poison being absorbed into the system. ”

“ To vital agents then, the practitioner must principally look for succour; but before we can establish any general rules for the treatment of poisoning, it is essential to distinguish between the different modes in which poisonous substances produce their effects, or at least to determine the parts of the living system through which they act; for it will be found, that each poison has its own modus operandi, from which alone can be derived the particular indications of cure. ”

“ They poison people, but the dearest grocer gave me a list of all the safe things, made up by a regular committee that tells how much poison each thing has in it, so you can know right off, or alcohol either. ”

“ The constitution bears slow poisoning a great deal better than might be expected; yet the most intelligent men in the profession have gradually got out of the habit of prescribing these powerful alien substances in the old routine way. Mr. Metcalf will tell you how much more sparingly they are given by our practitioners at the present time, than when he first inaugurated the new era of pharmacy among us. Still, the presumption in favor of poisoning out every spontaneous reaction of outraged nature is not extinct in those who are trusted with the lives of their fellow-citizens. ”

“ Though I believe that at present, taking the world at large, and leaving out a few powerful agents of such immense value that they rank next to food in importance, the poisons prescribed for disease do more hurt than good, I have no doubt, and never professed to have any, that they do much good in prudent and instructed hands. But I am very willing to confess a great jealousy of many agents, and I could almost wish to see the Materia Medica so classed as to call suspicion upon certain ones among them. ”

“ Penetrating to the recesses of our organs, she extracts evidence of the crime, and furnishes one of the great elements of conviction against the guilty. Do we not know that at the present time poisonings by morphine, brucine, strychnine, nicotine, conicine, hydrocyanic acid, and many other vegetable substances which were formerly believed to be inaccessible to our means of investigation, may be discovered and recognised in a manner to be perfectly char­ac­ter­is­tic? ”

“ In other words, in narcotic drug addiction some antidotal toxic substance has become the constantly present poison, and the narcotic drug itself has become simply the antidote demanded for its control. ”

“ In such cases a few persons believe the potion swallowed by the patient to be harmless; but the vast majority of mankind, though they know nothing of this particular case and this special person, believe the arsenic, the strychnine, or whatever the drug used, to be poisonous, for it has been set down as a poison by mortal mind. ”

“ She began to read in a solemn voice, “‘Be your own master! Read what others have done! The Manhattan Institute of Tonico-Therapy. Ten weeks course renders you independent for life. Highly paid selected staff instructs in all branches.’ And it goes on to tell you the theory of it. How all illnesses come from the chemical action of poisons in the stomach. You learn the antidotes for all these poisons, and then how to find which poison is causing the trouble, and there you are! I think—it sounds wonderful.”
“What rot! The ordinary fake!” said Lionel, impatiently. ”

“ A solution of the chloride of barium obtained from (2) gives a yellow precipitate with neutral chromate of potash, insoluble in water, but soluble in nitric acid.
[685]
APPENDIX. Treatment by Antidotes or otherwise of Cases of Poisoning.
§ 912. All medical men in practice are liable to be summoned hastily to cases of poisoning. In such emergencies not a moment is to be lost, for valuable lives have ere this been sacrificed simply from the delay caused by searching for medicines and instruments, and visiting the patient unprovided with suitable remedies. ”

“ Devoted to disease by baker, butcher, grocer, wine-merchant, spirit-dealer, cheesemonger, pastry-cook, and confectioner; the physician is called to our assistance; but here again the pernicious system of fraud, as it has given the blow, steps in to defeat the remedy;—the unprincipled dealers in drugs and medicines exert the most diabolical ingenuity in sophisticating the most potent and necessary drugs, (viz. peruvian bark, rhubarb, ipecacuanha, magnesia, calomel, castor-oil, spirits of hartshorn, and almost every other chemical preparation in general demand;) ”

“ Even assuming no present dispute among medical authorities, we cannot ignore that it has become commonplace for a drug or food additive to be universally regarded as harmless on one day and to be condemned as perilous on the next. ”

“ When a medical man is called to a case during life, where poisoning is suspected, he ought as soon as possible to follow the instructions laid down for securing articles in which poison may have been administered. ”

“ Tobacco, coffee, alcohol, hashish, prussic acid, strychnine, are weak dilutions: the surest poison is time. ”

“ Again, it is not only Physicians and Apothecary Men who deal out the poisonous drugs for disease, but the people use them repeatedly and continually while they enjoy comparative good health. Even the conscientious and Christian man and woman indulge in teas, coffees, catsups, peppers, tobaccos and the thousand and one, poisonous drugs, which have no business in the houses' of an enlightened and Christian community. ”