Taxus Baccata

Taxus baccata, Linn.

Natural order, Coniferse.

Common names, Yew ; (G.), Eibe ; (Fr.), L'If.

Authorities. 1, Selle, from Gesner's Sammlung, 1742 (Frank's Mag., 4, p. 342), a boy, set. five vears, was poisoned by tbe berries ; 2, Thomas Percival, M.D., Essays Med. Phil, and Exper.-, 1807, p. 180, death of three children, ait. five, four, and three years, from eating the fresh leaves. (3 to 6, Dr. Gautier, Bibliotheque. Horn, de Geneva, vol. 4, p. 193, 1835, provings on healthy persons.) 3, 3 or 4 drops of 2d dil. before breakfast for three successive days ; 4, 2 drops of mother tincture on two successive days; 5, half a cup of infusion of leaves two successive mornings; 6, effects on Gautier himself; 7, Samuel Hurt, Lancet, 1836-7 (1), p. 394, a child, ait. three and a half years, ate the berries. (8 to 13, Dr. Both, Journ. de la Sac. Gall., Mat. Med. Pura, vol. 1, p. 501.) 8, Gattereau, Ana. Journ. de Med., vol. 81, p. 77 ; 9, Harmaud, ibid., vol. 83, p. 210; 10, Percy, ibid., p. 226; 11, Hubner, Lethal taxi Venenum, example, confirmation, Francofurt, 1805 ; 12, Brande's Blumenbach Med. Biblioth., vol. 3, p. 634 ; 13, Reddeliu, Dissertatio de Tox. Baccata, Jense, 1794; 14, Staph, Archiv., 15, part 1, p. 187 ; 15, Vogt, Pharmakodyn., 4th edition, vol. 2, p. 287, general effects of large doses; 16, Jahn's Mat. Med., 3d edition, vol. 2, p. 1056, effects when given for suppressed menstruation ; 17, Fisher, ibid., effects ; 18. Dr. Mullen, Dub. Hosp. Gaz., May, 1845, p. 109 (Taylor on Poisons, 1845, p. 632), death of an insane man in fourteen hours after eating the leaves; 19, James Taylor, M.D., Prov. Journ., 1848, p. 708, death of a girl, set. five years, in four hours after eating the berries ; 20, John Lloyd, ibid., p. 662, death of a boy, set. four years, in nineteen days after eating the berries and nuts. 21 to 26, Chevalier, Duchesne, and Reynel, Journ. de la Sac. Gall., 1856 (Brit. Journ. of Horn., 14, 415). 21, Harmand de Montgarni, a man, set. forty years, drank an infusion of 1 ounce of bark in 1 pint of white wine for quartan fever; 22, a woman passed a night under one of the trees; 23, a girl bruised the branches and drank the juice; 24, one man ate a dozen berries, another ate twice as many ; 25, Ray ; 26, same, a woman drank a decoction of the leaves ; 27, Schopf, A. H. Z. M. B., 1, 48, 1859, Drs. Heinrich and Billberger took the alcoholic extract of the leaves in three doses of ^th, TVth, and ith drachms; 28, Brit. Med. Journ., (Dublin Med. Press, new ser., 10, 1864, p. 476), a girl, set. three years, ate the berries ; 29, James Thompson, Lancet, 1868 (2), p. 530, a boy, set. three years, ate the berries, death in four hours; 30, LTmparziale of Florence (Pharm. Journ., 1870, p. 286), a girl took a decoction of the leaves every morning for three days, and an increased dose of 8 ounces on the fourth morning, death in eight hours ; 31, A. H. Newth, Med. Times and Gaz., 1870 (2), p. 446, death of a man from the berries ; 32, Drs. Ridder, Virchow, and Hirsch, Jahrsbericht, 1874, part 1, p. 489, poisoning of a girl of five months by the berries; 33, P. M. Deas, Brit. Med. Journ., 1876 (2), p. 392, death of a woman, set. forty-nine years, from the leaves ; 34, Prof. Redwood, Pharm. Journ., November, 1877, p. 361, death of a woman who took five or six doses of a decoction of the leaves, and with the last dose some chopped unboiled leaves; 35, T. Whitehead Reid, Brit. Med. Journ., September, 1877, p. 442, a woman, set. twenty-four years, having gone supperless to bed, chewed and swallowed three large mouthfuls (three small sprigs), at 7 a.m., of "T. fastigiata" (the Irish variety of Taxus baccata).

Nose p. 550

Cativolcus, rex diminish partis Eburonura, taxo, cujus magna in Gallic Germaniaque copia est, se exanimavit. Csesar. De bello Gallico. Liber VI, cap. 31.

Mind p. 550

Died delirious

Remained imbecile during two months that the skin was diseased (after one month)

She was as if intoxicated for two days

Anxiety

Impatient disposition, which scarcely allows of the least intellectual contest (thirteenth day)

Oppression only in the daytime, especially when the stomach is empty or full (first day)

Disinclination to mental work

Fell on the bed she was making

Partial unconsciousness (after six hours)

State of profound stupor and helplessness

There was very marked improvement after the stomach was washed out, though even then she was prone to relapse into her former lethargic condition, and necessity arose for more active measures to keep her awake, though these again were soon able to be discontinued (after seven hours and a half)

The patient's memory was a blank from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.; she did not even recollect the stomach-pump (after three hours)

Insensible

Coma,20 29 ; (after six hours)

Head p. 550

Vertigo. Vertigo,1516, etc.

Momentary vertigo

Giddiness

General Head. Dulness of the head

Headache,1516; (after fourteen hours and a half)

The gardeners at Pisa could not remain more than half an hour at work trimming the trees without suffering violent headache

Slight headache with vertigo

Burning headache

Forehead. Frontal headache, extending to the face, with tearing in the eyes and slight lachrymation (third day)

Supraorbital and temporal headache on the right side, with lachrymation on the same side (after two hours and a half) ; aggravation at the slightest shaking from the cough (after five, six, seven to ten hours)

Supraorbital headache, with appearance of brilliant revolving circles constantly before the left eye especially, together with a feeling of emptiness in the stomach at the approach of mealtime, mostly ceasing after eating

Fine sticking pains in the frontal region

Headache under the left orbit (after one hour and a half), with increased lachrymation some hours later

Temple. Pressure in the left temporal region

Parietals. Twinging headache in both sides

The pain in the head passed from the right to the left side in the same position and with the same characteristics (second day)

Eyes p. 550

Eyes shut

Orbit. Pressive pain over the eyes

Pressive pain in the orbital region

Lids. Eyelids fell, and turned of a very dark color

Appearance of a small dry scab with red base, with very acute itching in a space about three lines in diameter, towards the outer canthus of the left eye (after eight hours)

Smarting itching in both eyelids, relieved by rubbing (after one hour) ; this symptom occurred with all the provers, without redness or signs of inflammation

Very troublesome itching in the left outer canthus (first day)

Lachrymation. Copious lachrymation on using the eyes in the least, whether in the open air or indoors

Lachrymation of the left eye without pain (after one hour)

Pupils. Pupils very dilated

Pupils widely dilated, though they acted slightly to light (after six hours)

Dilated pupils,7 20 29.

Vision. Obscurity of vision

Face p. 550

Looked ill

Face puffy and pale

Countenance pale

Countenance pale and depressed

Pallor of face ; lividity of lips and eyelids (after six hours)

Facial muscles convulsed, chiefly on the left side, the head itself being drawn to that side ; the eyes were thrown up and the pupils contracted ; the arms were also drawn up and there was great restlessness ; the facial convulsions were similar to those in an epileptic fit, and ended in a few minutes in frothing at the mouth and stertorous breathing

Purplish lips

Lips, especially the upper, blackish brown

Mouth p. 551

Teeth. Coldness in the upper incisors

Tout/ue. Tongue coated

Tongue excoriated

Tongue moist and tremulous, stained of a uniform brown color (after six hours); the staining lasted four days

Biting heat of the tongue at the part in contact with the substance (immediately)

General Mouth. Dry mouth with the fever (after twenty-four hours)

S((JU'(f. Secretion of saliva increased, and afterwards, especially from large doses, diminished

Increased secretion of saliva ; he spits a great deal more than usual, and the saliva is extremely viscid

Thick saliva, Salter than usual

Saliva sometimes so acrid as to make the mouth smart

Copious secretion of hot saliva, with the sickness at the stomach (third day)

Taste. Bitter taste like that of Quinine, but much less persistent (first day)

Stomach p. 551

Appetite. Two hours after breakfast unwonted hunger, which, when satisfied, returns in an hour and a half (after five hours) ; this symptom, accompanied by general weakness and by uneasiness, with great weakness or sinking feeling in the region of the stomach, was especially troublesome during the two last days

Loss of appetite

Thivst. Intense thirst (after eleven hours)

Nausea and Vomiting. Nausea, followed sometimes by mucous and saburral vomiting, rarely mingled with bile

Nausea and efforts to vomit

Retching, and complained of feeling ill

Sickness at the stomach, with copious secretion of hot saliva (third day)

Began to feel sick (after one hour) ; vomited for the first time (after one hour and a half) ; vomited three or four times between 9 and 10 a.m. (after two hours) ; vomiting from time to time (after six hours) ; 9.30 p.m., the vomited matter had become duodenal in character, being more tenacious, and containing bile and food as well as leaves, the sharp points of which were well imbedded in mucus; she had vomited four times since 6 p.m. (after fourteen hours and a half) ; the vomited matter was neutral to test-paper

Vomiting,7 18, etc.

The oldest vomited a little

Vomitings, which ended in death

Vomiting, purging, and tenesmus

Vomiting of mucus and of curdled grease

Stomach. Greater activity of the digestive functions, and, in consequence, frequent need of eating

Feeling of emptiness in the stomach without hunger (after about an hour, second day)

Pain in epigastrium

Pain in the pit of the stomach felt only on pressure (but that pressure the very slightest), which increases the oppression and excites a little short cough without expectoration (second day)

Very distressing dull sensation in the stomach and abdomen, lasting several hours, with rumbling

Pinching and burning pressure in the epigastric region

Abdomen p. 551

Borborygmi when fasting, and sometimes rumblings rising from the hypogastrium to the umbilicus (thirteenth day)

Slight dull pain in the umbilicus (after one hour and a half)

Pressure above the umbilicus

Uncomfortable distension as from eating too much

Rumbling in the abdomen, with dull pain, followed by an evacuation quite unusual at this hour (after half an hour, second day)

Twinging and tension across the abdomen

Gripings in the belly of the oldest

Stool p. 551

Purging

Diarrhoea, which is usually rather small in quantity, and often accompanied with tenesmus

Slight diarrhoea without colic (from eating the berries of the yew)

Looseness of the bowels, with tenesmus and insupportable smarting, during and after each stool or attempt at one (thirteenth day)

Slight purging

Increased stools

Two stools (first day)

Soft stool at a very unaccustomed hour (after a quarter of an hour)

Soft stool (after half an hour)

Stools partly pasty, partly liquid, usually painful

Natural stool, but at a very unaccustomed hour (after four hours)

Hard and scanty stools all the time the remedy was acting (after eight hours)

Hard difficult evacuation

Urinary Organs p. 552

Cutting pain at the base of the kidneys, which allows him neither to sit still nor stand up, and even prevents him from turning himself in bed ; it lasted thus two days, ceasing by degrees in about five days (after one hour)

In the evening, and especially the next day, tenesmus of the bladder, with slightly smarting pain in the line of the fraenum, in the urethra (second day)

Frequent urging to urinate, the urine being emitted with difficulty in very feeble jets, though natural in color (fifteenth day)

Difficult urination, frequently alternating with limpid urine

Great increase of urine

Increased secretion of urine, with increased desire to urinate

Strangury, urine red

[HO.] She held her urine all day and until 6 the next morning ; the urine, which measured 4 pints in the twenty-four hours on the fourth day, varied in specific gravity from 1011 to 1017, contained uric acid in abundance, with large crystals resembling cystin in appearance, as well as lozenge and halbert-shaped ones of all sizes ; there were variable amounts of albumen and phosphates during the eight days it was examined

Sexual Organs p. 552

Increased discharge from the genitals

Extreme excitement during an embrace, without stronger desire or any repetition of the act (fifteenth day)

Respiratory Organs p. 552

Cough excited by a deep respiration, with slight oppression, soon after dinner (after ten hours)

Violent fatiguing cough

Increased expectoration from the bronchi

Respiration frequent

Breathing very hard

Breathing laborious and frequent

Breathing difficult

Respirations shallow, irregular, often sighing (after six hours)

Chest p. 552

Lungs engorged

Increased oppression and cough, which is accompanied at first by a pain under the xiphoid cartilage, aggravated by the least pressure on the latter; this symptom was never felt at all during the night, nor when there was any expectoration with the cough ; it was more painful both before and after a meal (second day)

Chest full and hot

Stitches in the left side

Heart and Pulse p. 552

Irregular action of the heart

Rapid pulse

Pulse at first increased in frequency, afterwards sank below the normal ; after three or four hours rose somewhat above the normal

Slow pulse

Pulse feeble

Pulse small and wiry

Pulse almost imperceptible

Very marked irregularity and depression of the heart's action, with a small thready pulse, at times imperceptible, at times frequent, of short duration, small volume, and diminished power; the heart's action was very feeble and undulating, its sounds indistinct, yet the ventricular systole not interrupted enough to cause a dicrotous pulse (after six hours) ; pulse regular as to rhythm, though not to frequency, beats varying between 80 and 96 (after fourteen hours and a half)

The pulse remained very irregular in frequency (accompanied by sensations of "heart-stopping") for three days, varying between 55 and 92 ; its rise was quick and volume diminished

Neck and Back p. 553

Drawing in the left cervical muscles

Pain, which is neither continuous nor severe, in the upper part of the back (soon) ; pain increased (second day)

Pain under the left scapula (immediately)

The pain under the scapula passes behind the kidneys (after one hour)

Cutting pain in the sacral region, which obliged him to support the kidneys, when walking (thirteenth day)

Upper Extremities p. 553

Numbness of the limbs and paralysis

A numbness, with a kind of immobility, in the extremities, especially after several sweats

Pretty sharp, transient, wandering pains in the extremities

Superior Extremities p. 553

Pain during exercise as well as rest, but more severe during exercise, seeming to occupy the olecranon process, and sometimes to leave this part for other portions of the same bone, always in the direction of its humeral extremity; this pain, although not very deepseated, evidently affects the bone, and seems to occupy the periosteum (first day)

Pain felt both on movement and during rest, but worse on movement, appearing to occupy the olecranon process, and sometimes to leave this part of the elbow for other portions of the same bone, always tending towards its humeral extremity; this pain, although not very deepseated, evidently affects the bone, and seems to occupy the periosteum

Unpleasant dryness of the palms, which are also very warm (fourteenth, fifteenth, and sixteenth days)

Immediately, or in a few minutes, pain in the joint of the first and second phalanges of the left middle finger (second day)

Dull pains in the phalangeal joints of the right hand (second day)

Rheumatic pain in the right forefinger, in the phalangeal articulations (third day) ; this pain lasted until the eighth day, not continuously, but returning often, and especially when the affected part was brought into the slightest contact with even warm liquid

Inferior Extremities p. 553

Hip. Pain in the left hip, with internal feeling of heat, and, externally, of tearing and great coldness (fourteenth and fifteenth days)

Moderate and superficial pain in the right hip and in the knee of the same side, felt more deeply, but not more severely, in the thigh, as a tearing, with coldness; it ceased in the night (after seven hours)

Enee. Pain of the same nature as at the base of the kidneys, but more violent, in both knees, especially in the left, ceasing at night, and passing then into the ankle-joint

Pain about the right kneepan (after one hour) ; pain in the left knee like that in the right, where it had ceased (after two hours and a half) ; these symptoms reappeared with an intensity which even disabled me from walking, the pain in the knee returning by starts, and impressing on the joint a feeling of extreme weakness, and sometimes of being suddenly bruised, with a cutting pain, which rendered locomotion quite impossible (thirteenth day)

Crawling sensation in the right leg, extending to the sole of the foot, where it felt as though one were walking on a net

Sharp pinching, with circumscribed itching, in the middle of the left calf (after nine hours)

Sudden shooting, almost as quick as lightning, close to and almost upon the phalangeal joint of the first metatarsus of the right side (first day)

Crawling sensation in the whole left foot

Generalities p. 553

All the hairy parts became denuded (after a month)

Secretions increased

Twice a slight tremor came over her frame (after six hours)

Trembling, as at the approach of a fever, with dry mouth, without thirst, and general uneasiness, all of which lasts a quarter of an hour (after twenty-four hours)

Convulsions,18 19 26 29.

Convulsions and death

Great uneasiness

Restless at times, turning from side to side, in bed (after six hours)

Restlessness

Unsteadiness when at rest or sitting, and especially when standing quietly (thirteenth day)

General feeling of uneasiness (thirteenth day)

Uneasy (after two hours)

Extreme exhaustion

Great prostration

Prostration and distension of the abdomen

Sudden prostration of strength

Prostration, with great oppression, after an embrace, the whole without pain or anxiety; this symptom, the last produced, after having resisted several attempts to remove it, yielded completely to the exhibition of Staphisagria, taken with this object (sixteenth day)

Faintness

A kind of faintness, soon ; a small quantity of brandy and other restoratives seemed to recover her, and she was then put to bed, a dose of castor oil being administered ; she, however, relapsed into her former alarming state and death ensued

Fainted, became insensible, and was found on the floor in a state of collapse (after two hours)

Symptoms of syncope (after six hours)

Skin p. 554

Two attacks of black jaundice very difficult to remove

The hue of the skin remains of a dirty leaden gray

Redness of the skin

Eruption of large and slightly prominent pimples, rather like plates, of a vivid red color, occupying the posterior and upper portions of both arms, with very acute itching (after one hour) ; eruption increased (second day)

Body covered with pustules (after a month)

When she awoke, next morning, her body was covered with a copious miliary eruption ; on the third day the rash disappeared, and there was an abscess formed at the right knee, which broke on the eleventh day, and was followed by death on the fourteenth

The day following the first dose, and a few hours after the second, uneasiness towards the nose, on whose tip there appeared a large, round, and brownish-red spot, without pain or itching, only sensitive to pressure towards its centre, slightly prominent by reason of a small pimple which projected at this point, where, next day, without pain or irritation, desquamation began, which, by slow degrees, extended over all the violet-covered surface, and was completed in five or six days ; finally, towards the evening of this same day, that is, about twelve hours after the second dose taken in infusion, a burning itching was felt in the inferior dorsal region of the right forearm, over a surface about an inch in diameter, and corresponding precisely to the outer part of the radio-carpal joint. This surface was rather redder and rougher than in the normal state, and the itching, of which it was the seat, alternated with a similar irritation, but much less severe, in the same portion of the left forearm. The next morning, in the same region, appeared on the right side a crowded mass of hard, round, and red pimples, whose baglike desquamation proceeded during next day and the day after, accompanied by very acute itching, while around this surface, where the skin had resumed its normal appearance and vitality, other similar pimples, but less numerous, arose and disappeared in like manner, with very acute itching, in the morning especially, and not at night, and were succeeded, in their turn, by another circle of similar pimples, reaching thus the dorsal region principally and the upper part of the right forearm. On the left side, three pimples of the same nature as the preceding, but whose desquamation was not followed by the production of other pimples, sufficed to keep up in this part for more than fifteen days, the itching of which it was the seat. To-day, even after lasting a month, the eruption on the right side still remains as troublesome as ever

A large suggilation in the sole of the left foot, with pain on walking, followed by dark petechia over nearly the whole body ; the face became puffy and pale, the chest full and hot, with great weakness, and after a few days, fever, with great swelling of the face and lips, which became blackishbrown, especially the upper lip, with extreme exhaustion, followed by death

Sleep p. 555

Yawning without sleepiness

Yawned much (after two hours)

Drowsiness for some hours

Seemed as if going to sleep

Deep sleep

Complete insomnia (thirteenth day)

Sleep restless

Fever p. 555

Chilliness. General coldness for some minutes, at 2 a.m., followed by dry heat in the hands, and especially in the feet, with general malaise ; dry mouth without thirst, and then copious sweat on the forehead, which, in three hours, ended the symptoms (after twenty-one hours)

Chilly and listless (after two hours)

Coldness of the surface

Skin cold and clammy

Skin cold and bathed in perspiration (after six hours)

Shivering over the whole body

Extremities cold

Unpleasant coldness of the skin of the thighs, especially in front, all day (fifteenth day)

Temperature 98.3° (after fourteen hours and a half); never exceeded 99.9° for three days

Heat. Fever

Dry heat with thirst

Heat in the forehead, u.

Sweat. Offensive viscid sweats, with smart itching and redness in the glandular parts at the surface of the body

Perspiration of a peculiarly offensive odor, with itching of the skin and eruption of vesicles

Sweating after the least exercise, with great weakness (thirteenth day)

Profuse nightsweats

Conditions p. 555

Aggravation.

(Before and after each meal), Oppression and cough.

(Pressure), Pain in pit of stomach.

(Pressure on xiphoid cartilage), Oppression and cough.

(Deep respiration), Cough.

(Shaking from cough), Headache.

(When standing quietly), Unsteadiness.

(Warm liquids), Pain in right forefinger.

Amelioration p. 555

(Rubbing), Itching of eyelids.