Kali Nitricum

Aidhorities. 51, William Alexander, M.D., Experimental Essays, London, 1770, p. 104, experiments on himself; 52, N. G., A. H. Z., 3, p. 145, a woman took a spoonful ; 53, Mouton, S. J., 158, 242, a man took 4 grams in wine ; 54, Richard Wood, Brit. Med. Journ., 1877 (2), p. 521, a woman took about 2 ounces; 55, J. A. Thompson, ibid., 1878 (1), p. 402, a man ate some soup to which had been added jelly made from a liquor in which a pi^’s face had been boiled.

Mind p. 566

Mild delirium, followed by great restlessness, wakefulness, and death

She thought she would die,^l

Complete unconsciousness

Head p. 566

Reeling so she cannot stand

Eyes p. 566

Eyes staring, immovable, the pupils dilated

Mouth p. 566

Crawling on the tongue

Stomach p. 566

Nausea, retching, and vomiting of mucus and water, then bloody mucus

In three hours nausea and griping set in ; these continued to increase to the eleventh hour, when some whiskey and nutmeg which had been taken was vomited. At the twelfth hour, violent watery purging in large quantity set in and continued for an hour, and [he pain ceased. On the morning of the third day he felt a good deal of lumbar aching, which he attributed to the confinement. At midday he took 2 ounces of Hollands in cold water; an hour after he passed water, which was coffeecolored from admixture of blood

Burning in the stomach

Urinary Organs p. 566

Urine diminished

Sexual Organs p. 566

Pulse small, rapid

Pulse irregular, scarcely percept! ble

Upper Extremities p. 566

Crawling in the bands and feet, as if asleep,“l

Generalities p. 566

Complained of great burning pain in the stomach, and in about five minutes vomited some glairy fluid. Some slight shivering and tremulous motion of the hands occurred, with an unsteady attempt at walking. Pulse quick and feeble,^h

Experiment p. 566

I applied a thermometer to the pit of my stomach, and the highest degree to which the mercury would rise wa.s 98; I then took a drachm of Nitre dissolved in an ounce of water; two minutes after this my pulsations were reduced from 72 to 64; four minutes after they were as low as 62, and from that time they began gradually to increase, till at the end of ten minutes they were at 70 and soon after at 72, the exact number at which they were before I took the draught; about twenty minutes after 1 had taken the Nitre, on looking at the thermometer, the mercury had risen from 98“ to 99|-°, and in twenty minutes more it was fallen again to 98°, and my pulse still continued to beat 72; this was exactly, in every respect, the state in which I was before I took it.

As the rising and falling of the mercury in all the subsequent trials was extremely irregular, I shall leave out of my narrative of the following experiments the observations I made on it, and lay it down as a postulatum, that whatever power Nitre may have of cooling the body, it does not exert it in any perceptible manner on itsexternal parts.

Experiment p. 566

About an hour after I had taken the first draught, I took a second. My pulse beat 70 before I took it, but in one minute after no more than 60, though it soon became quicker, so as at the end of ten minutes to beat 68, and in a few minutes more 70. As soon as I had taken it I felt a chilliness all over my body, but more particularly at my stomach, which continued for about twenty minutes to give me a good deal of uneasiness. It then began to decrease, and in little more than half an hour Avas entirely gone oft

Experiment p. 567

The next day I repeated the same experiment. Before I took the dose my pulse beat 64 ; the second minute after the strokes were reduced to 60; the fifth minute after they were 63, and soon came to 64, as before I took it.

Experiment p. 567

The day following I took a drachm dissolved in 2 ounces of water. Before I took it my pulse beat 73; the second minute after it fell to 66; the fourth minute after it rose to 69; and from that time became still more frequent, till at the end of nine minutes it had recovered its usual strength and was at 73.

Experiment p. 567

Twenty minutes after this dose I took a drachm and a half of Nitre, dissolved in 3 ounces of water; after two minutes my pulse was weak, fluttering, and unequal, and beat about 70 in a minute; soon after I felt a painful sensation at the upper orifice of my stomach, and on arising from my chair, it was with some difficulty that I walked through the room ; I then returned to the chair and felt my pulse again ; it was now become so quick, fluttering, and irregular, and my head was so giddy, that I could not exactly number the strokes it beat, though, as- near as I could judge, they were between 96 and 100; in about au hour every one of these disagreeable symptoms began to abate, and continued slowly decreasing all that day; the next morning when I got out of bed they were entirely gone off.

Experiment p. 567

I dissolved drachms in 3 ounces of water, which I left twelve hours exposed to the air, and then swallowed ; immediately before I took it my pulse beat 64;'the second minute after it beat the same; the fourth minute after it beat 59; and from that time began to increase as in the former experiments, till it came to the standard at which it had been before I took the Nitre.

Experiment p. 567

I dissolved 6 drachms in a quart of water, which I began to drink early in the morning, and by taking small draughts of it as often as I had convenience. I finished the whole at 8 oclock that night without feeling any uneasiness from it, or being sensible of its having operated any other way than by urine.

Experiment p. 567

Two days after I dissolved 1 ounce of Nitre in the same quantity of water, and drank it in the same time; it gave me no uneasiness, nor had any sensible effects.

Experiment p. 567

Some days after this I dissolved 1^ ounces of Nitre in 3 pounds of water, and took a draught of it every hour, except in bed ; the whole was drank in twenty-four hours; after four or five draughts I felt a slight chilliness at my stomach every time I took it; but this generally went off before the time of taking the next draught, and on that account gave me but little pain.

Experiment p. 567

I now resolved to try what would be the effect of the same quantity of Nitre, when every different dose was taken immediately on its being dissolved ; for this purpose I divided 1 ounce of it into eight equal parts, and took one of these parts, dissolved in 4 ounces of water, every ninety minutes. The weather was at this time very warm, and. therefore, the first three or four doses cooled and refreshed me ; the fifth and sixth, however, gave me a chilliness and pain in my stomach ; the seventh and eighth increased these sharp stinging pains, not only in tuy stomach, but through my whole body, which were so violent that for fifteen minutes after each dose I could not breathe without feeling a very acute pain on every inspiration.

Experiment p. 568

As I had been able to take 1|^ ounces of Nitre with very little inconvenience when it had been long dissolved, I resolved to make one more effort to try if I could manage the same quantity, when every dose was taken immediately after being dissolved. I therefore prepared eight powders of 1^ drachms each, with a design to take one of them every ninety minutes, as in the last experiment; the second dose gave me a chilliness at my stomach ; the third gave me some of the above-mentioned pains; and the fourth increased them to such a violent degree that I was obliged to desist from taking any rare,^h

Fever p. 568

Skin cold, cyanotic, covered with cold, clammy sweat,^l

Excessive coldness, with redness of the face