Sium

Sium latifolium, Linn.

Natural order, Umbelliferae?.

Common name, Water parsnip.

Preparation, Tincture of root.

Authorities. 1, White, Phil. Med. Times, 1873, p. 47, a man, aged fortyfive, ate less than an ounce of the root of the " wild parsnip ;" 2, Little, The Clinic, 7, 49, a man, aged sixteen, ate a piece as large as an almond of the common water parsnip, death in less than three hours.

Mind

Much excited

Considerable mental anxiety (soon)/.

Sense of fear of death

Lack of mental power

Head

Great dizziness

Headache

Eyes

Pupils dilated, responding slowly to a bright light (after two hours)

Pupils somewhat dilated

Throat

Decided burning feeling along the alimentary tract (oesophagus especially)

Feeble efforts at deglutition when fauces were touched (after two hours)

Stomach

Became nauseated, and vomited what little he had eaten for dinner (after one hour) ; after a brief respite he was again seized with vomiting, at the close of which he fell into a convulsion

Unpleasant sensation about the stomach (soon)

Abdomen

Sense of swelling and flatulence about the bowels

Respiratory Organs

Respiration slow

Respiration slow and stertorous (after two hours)

Pulse

Pulse 60 per minute, full and strong (after two hours) ; the circulation became weaker and weaker, the pulse being 40 per minute when last recognized

Pulse 44,1.

Generalities

Muscles in a state of tonic contraction ; arms drawn toward the middle of the body ; fingers flexed ; opisthotonos well marked ; greater contraction of the muscles on the left side than on the right (after two hours)

Every few minutes there were spasms, at first violently clonic, but with each succeeding convulsion the violence diminished, so that they became little more than tremors; by degrees the character was changed until the last one (in which circulation and respiration ceased), which was a pure tonic spasm. At first the spasms were of short duration and the interval considerable, but the duration of the spasms increased and the interval diminished until it was scarcely appreciable

Loss of voluntary motion

Very prostrate in strength

Fever

Skin cold and clammy

Head hot, rest of body cold (after two hours)

Wet with perspiration (after two hours)