Citrus vulgaris

Volume IV — Appendix

CITRUS VULGARIS.*

Bitter orange. Nat. Ord., Aurantiacta,

II. Poisonings. — I have examined all the workers (women) who for ^Vje last IS years have been occupied in peeling oranges at Clermont. vif 41 who have been thus engaged, only 12 have been exempt from *«iy effects. There thus remain 2q observations ; I will cite the most Important.

• Dr. Imbert Gourbeyrb calls the orange whose effects he has observed •♦cbinoU." The "China orange," however, is one of the sweet varieties; whereas he U avowedly writing about a bitter orange, and these all come under the heading of C. imlgarii or bigarotiia,— Eds.

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1. lEt. 47. Had worked 8 years. Had never failed toexperienoe more or less incorjvenience, such as dazzlings or weakness of sight j heartburn; headache, with nausea; insomnia; agitation; cramps; general itchings. Sometimes she had eruptions of papules all over, rd, not suppurating, but bleeding when scratched ; also large red patches. There was great fatigue in all limbs, especially in arms. Once ihe I. hand swelled up, and remained thus — with itching — for 15 d., improving only when work was suspended. In spite of weakness, there was a sort of vivacity in her limbs, so that, once at work, she wrought so to speak irresistibly. She frequently felt drawing pains and horripilations. In resuming (Dec, 1849) her occupation after an interval, it soon happened that as she entered the workshop she was taken with suffocation and sweats, and at same time nausea and itching. Befofc this, however, she had had twitchings of 1. side of face, lasting aiuuc 2 m., and returning 50 times a d. At last, feeling herself worse and worse, she ceased work and remained at home. Two d. later, while washing some linen, the " vivacity " came upon her ; the more she washed, the more she wished to wash and could not restrain herself. She was then taken with a general trembling, and fell. Her whole body was convulsed, but chiefly 1. side of face ; shoulders also were much afFected. She scraped the ground with her feet and overturned everything. Consciousness was not lost. This attack lasted \ h., and she remained oppressed all the d. Nextd. a similar attack occurred on putting hands in water. She continued ill all winter, and did not go out, feeling great fatigue, and being always sleepless. The least excitement made her worse ; she wept continually, and fancied herself crippled. There were frequent drawings in the limbs, and desire to stretch ; often also headache and abdominal heat. She worked no more with the oranges, and all symptoms disappeared ; ever since their very odour would affect and indispose her. (iMBEifi GouRBEYRE, Action Phys. det Oranges AmereSy Clermont, 1853.)

2. M.X., 35, Had worked for 2 years, when she was obliged leave of}', and seek medical aid. She had throughout suffered from head ; also from her teeth, 7 or 8 of which had become carious aa easily broke away — pains extend from them into tongue, with shootings and noise in ears. Sometimes she felt for an instant drawing pains in face ; now the nose was drawn back ; now there was twitching below eyes, and her companions perceived it. She yawned frequently involuntarily, and was constantly feeling as if just upon being suffocated. Palpitation, with rising in throat and suffocative feeling. Always after resuming work she had for the 1st d. vomiting or great nausea, also anorexia and great thirst. Every c. on coming home, she complained of her head and stomach ; shivered while going to bed, and as soon as warm was very agitated, and uncovered herKl'; slept little, and woke with starts. There were drawings in limbs, especially at n., or at the least contradiction ; cramps in limbs ; horripilations. During 2nd year 1. hand became swollen, and red, without papules or itching : it gave her no pain, but its movements were constrained. {Ibid.)*

• Seven more cases are related in detail. — Edi.

1. Analysing all the observations I have collected, I can now give a general table of the symptoms experienced by the workpeople.

a. They are liable to headache, either general or partial, often pressive in forehead ; sometimes it is a kind of intoxication accompanied by vertigo, at other times a well-marked hemicrania, most frequently on the r. side. The headache is often accompanied by nausea and sometimes by vomiting.

i. There occur a^o true neuralgix of the face, either general or confined to the temples, with lancinating or gnawing pains. These also are most frequently right-sided. Sometimes the facial pains are actual toothache, continuous, and associated with caries and wearing away of the teeth. Sight is at times simply weakened. Noises in ears are frequent, as of a bell or of a mill, but without deafness. Once I observed swelling and redness of the ear-lobes. There are in some cases drawings on one side of the face, a kind of epileptiform spasms — transient and frequently recurring.

c. There is often suffocation, thoracic oppression, painful sense of choking at upper part of sternum } at times strangling sensation in throat, and pleurodynia. I have observed nearly always frequent and irresistible yawnings ; and in the stomach malaise, heartburn, weight, failure in power, sometimes frequent eructations and thirst.

d. Sleep is commonly much disturbed and dreamful — there is waking in starts, impossibility to find a comfortable position, burning heat.

e. The limbs are often the seat of drawings and horripilations, with desire to stretch the legs and to twist the hands. The whole muscular system is affected. Sometimes there is general contraction and weight on the shoulders ; cramps, usually local ; crampy pain in wrists i general excitement, with brusque and rapid movements.

y. There is, moreover, pruritus, usually confined to upper extremities, with swelling and redness of hands ; also eruptions of red patches on divers parts of the body, or vesicular ones on the whole arms, but chiefly on hands and between fingers ; and sometimes an erysipelatous swellmg of the face. {Ibid.)