Oleander

Volume III — Main text

OLEANDER.

Nerium Oleander^ L. Common rosebay or rose-laurel. Nat. Ord., Apocymactm.

1. Provhgs. — i. Hahnemann, Mat. Med. Pura^ vol, i of original, vol. ii of translation. Contains 541 symptoms from self and five others, and 10 from authon.

2. Loiseleur-Deslongchamps took 3 dr. of a sol. of 30 gnii. of extr. in 1 20 grm. of wine, and repeated it daily, each time increasing dose by i dr. It caused anorexia, malaise, weakness of limbs, anxiety, and great muscular debility. (GALTZERf ToxicoiogUf vol. ii.)

II. Poisonings. — i. A delicate boy, aet. aj, swallowed, Aug. i8th, at i p.ni., 2 handfuls of the flowers. After 10 m. he was observed to be very restless. He was carried into the house, and on the way thither, and again 5 m. later, he vomited the flowers and some food. After the second vomiting he became very gay, and, contrary to his habit, jumped about all afternoon like a playful kitten. At 4.30 p.m. he took his coffee with appetite. 6.30 p.m., became again restless, wished to go to bed, lay there quietly and seemed to sleep. He did not reply to questions, face and body were pale, eyes open, pupils very contracted, head and rest of body quite cold and insensible, pulse and respiration slow and irregular, he could not be roused, and bis father thought he was dead. 7 p.m., again vomited food, recovered his senses, and for 10 m. was lively ; he then again became comatose in a greater degree than before. After a dose of ipec. he vomited at 9 p.m. a clear watery fluid without any solid matter, again becoming lively for a short time and then again comatose. He had three alternations of liveliness and sopor several times. At xi p.m. he got some strong coffee. This roused him, and he became somewhat cheerful, but remained exhausted and sleepy ; his pulse intermitted every 4 or 5 beats till 4 a.m. ; it was weak, bmall, and rather quicker. Towards m. the intermissions of the pulse were after 10 to 12 beats. — 19th. The pulse intermitted every 13th beat, the weakness and drowsiness continued, the pupils were dilated so that hardly any of the iris was visible. He vomited everything he took. As he had no stool be got a dose of carb. of magnesia every h. from 12 noon, but he always vomited it. After the 6th dose and some lemonade the vomiting ceased ; he fell into a quiet sleep, which lasted till 6 a.m. of the 20th. On waking he had a stool, the weakness and drowsiness were gone and he was well. {Horn, yierteljahrsch.^ xi, 159; from Zeitsch. d, k. k, Gesellich. d. Aerzte zu IVien.)

1. Five persons who partook of barley broth which had been stirred while cooking with a branch of O. were taken seriously ill. One cried aloud and tossed about, vomited a green fluid, his eyes looked suffused with blood, the pupils were much dilated. Another had dilated pupils, uttered cries, had slight convulsions of the limbs. A third had vertigo, pain in stomach and in joints of limbs and a kind of stupidity so that he did not understand what was said to him. A fourth showed greater stupefaction, complete insensibility, his head was bent down upon his chest. A fifth was apparently completely stupefied, eyes distorted, bilious vomiting. All recovered in a week. (Galtier, op. at.)

2. A man took 1 grm. 10 centigrms. of the powder of the bark. On the and d. he had copious painful vomiting, cold sweats, syncope, and other serious symptoms, which went off after drinking copiously of sugar and water and ether. (Ibid,}

3. An officer, to protect himself from the mosquitoes, made himself a kind c^ alcove of O. branches in his room, closed all the <doors and windows, and went to sleep. The next m. he was found to be dead. (Ibid,)

4. A Hindoo, xt. 25, slight and delicate -looking, was brought to the hospital at Khoiapore in the m. of August 9th, i S58, in a state of insensibility. His wife stated that after a quarrel he had swallowed more than an 02. of the expressed juice of the root. He was then about 5 yards off his house, to which he repaired immediately and fell, unconscious, on the threshold. On admission, face and eyes were swollen^ head hot and covered with sweat, stertorous breathing, and foam issuing from mouth.

With this there were violent spasmodic contractions of the muscles of the whole body, most marked in upper extremities and on I. side. In the intervals of the spasms the patient lay motionless on his back. When the attack commenced, the stronger contraction of the 1. side threw him on the r., and he remained in this position as long as it lasted, falling then upon his back as one exhausted. Sulphate of zinc produced free emesis of greenish matter j but, insensibility persisting, with rapid pulse and hot skin, leeches were applied to the temples, and sulphate of magnesia obtained watery greenish evacuations. The spasms returned at intervals of an h., and were apparently brought on by every attempt to move or to raise himself. Towards e. the spasms diminished, the face became pale and pulse thready, eyes were sunk in orbits, and extremities grew cold rapidly. Frictions, mustard, and stimulants restored the circulation, but the insensibility persisted, and there was an involuntary stool. He remained in this state all next d., the spasms less violent and frequent, evacuations still involuntary. In e. reaction was established, but insensibility continued j after action of a full dose of castor-oil this merged in a sound sleep. On m. of nth He woke quite himself, though weak, and soon recovered, remembering nothing of what had passed since he swallowed the poison. (Broughton, Tra/u. of Med. and Phys, Soc. of Bombay y 1859.)

III. Experiments on animals. — i. Orfila has proved by his experiments that O. exerts a narcotic action on the brain, and an irritant one on the alimentary canal. {Op, cit.)