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List of Poison Related
Causes of Death
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Acid Poisoning |
The acids, generally, are strong corrosive poisons. Symptoms: sour,
acrid taste; burning in the throat, which is increased by pressure,
swallowing, or coughing; eructation, and excruciating pain in
the stomach; more or less corrugation of the lining membranes
of the mouth and primae viae; excoriation about the mouth or
such other parts of the skin as the acid may have touched. The
matter vomited effervesces with carbonate of lime. The countenance
becomes glazed, extremities cold and clammy; convulsions and
death. Nitric acid occasions yellow stains, and sulphuric acid,
black. [Dunglison1874] |
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Aconite Poisoning |
The ordinary blue rocket, wolfsbane or monksbood, Acontium
Napellus, and an alkaloid extracted from it, aconitine, are
perhaps the most deadly of known poisons. One sixteenth of a
grain of aconitine has proved fatal to a man. All the preparations
of aconite produce a peculiar burning, tingling, and numbness
of the parts to which they are applied. When given in large
doses they produce violent vomiting, as a rule, more or less
paralysis of motion and sensation, and great depression of the
heart, usually ending in death from syncope. Intelligence remains
unaffected till almost the last. The treatment consists in the
hypodermic injection of digitalin, which is a counter-poison
in its action upon the heart. The root of aconite has been eaten
in mistake for that of horse-radish. [Britannica1911] |
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Acrodynia |
A painful
affection of the wrists and ankles, especially with an erythematous
eruption, which appeared in Paris as an epidemic, in 1828-29;
supposed by some to be rheumatic, by others to be owing to spinal
irritation. It appears to have been the same as Dengue. [Duglison1874]
A syndrome in children and infants caused by mercury poisoning,
characterized by erythema of the extremities, chest, and nose,
polyneuritis, and gastrointestinal disorders. Also called erythredema,
pink disease, Swift's disease. [Merriam-Webster] |
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Alkali
Poisoning |
Symptoms:
violent, caustic, acrid taste; great heat in the throat, with
destruction of its lining membrane; difficult and painful deglutition;
vomiting of bloody matter, which turns the yellow of turmeric
brown; acute pain in the stomach; cold sweats, weakness, hiccough;
violent colic pains, with purging of bloody stools and membranous
flakes; death. [Dunglison1874] |
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Allantiasis |
A morbid condition produced by eating
unwholesome sausages. It is characterized by constipation,
nausea, vomiting, dizziness, imperfect vision, muscular
prostration, and enfeeblement of the circulation, and is
frequently fatal. [Applleton1904].
Poisoning due to the ingestion of
sausages, usually the result of consuming sausages containing
the toxins of Clostridium botulium. Also called sausage
poisoning. [American Heritage]
An obsolete term for sausage poisoning
due to botulism. [CancerWeb] |
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Arsenic Poisoning |
Symptoms: Violent burning in the region of the stomach and bowels;
tenderness on pressure; retching; vomiting; sense of dryness
and tightness in the throat; thirst; hoarseness and difficulty
of speech; the matter vomited, greenish or yellowish, sometimes
streaked with blood; diarrhea; tenesmus; sometimes excoriation
of the anus; urinary organs occasionally affected with violent
burning pains and suppression; convulsions and cramps; clammy
sweats; lividity of the extremities; countenance collapsed;
eyes red and sparkling; delirium; death. [Dunglison1868] |
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Autointoxication
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Poisoning of an
organism with matter produced within itself. [Appleton1904]
Poisoning,
or the state of being poisoned, from toxic substances produced
within the body; autotox[ae]mia. [Webster1913]
Developed from the idea that the
body is poisoned by the contents of the large gut, a reflection
of the Victorian obsession of constipation.
[Ann Dally 1997]
Self-poisoning
resulting from the absorption of waste products of metabolism,
decomposed intestinal matter, or other toxins produced within
the body. [Stedman2002]
Self-poisoning caused
by endogenous microorganisms, metabolic wastes, or other toxins
produced within the body. Also called autotoxemia. [American
Heritage].
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Example from a 1921 Death
Certificate from Georgia:
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Belladonna |
The belladonna or deadly nightshade, Atropa Belladonna, contains
an alkaloid, atropine, which is largely used by oculists to procure
dilatation of the pupils of the eye. The bright scarlet berries
of the plant have been eaten by children, who are attracted by their
tempting appearance. Belladonna produces dilatation of the pupils,
rapid pulse, hot dry flushed skin, with an eruption not unlike that
of scarlatina, soreness of the throat, with difficulty of swallowing,
intense thirst, and gay, mirthful delirium. The treatment consists
in evacuation of the poison by means of the stomach-pump, and the
hypodermic injection of morphia as a counter-poison. [Britannica1911] |
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Bellon |
Lead Colic |
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Botulism |
In humans, food
poisoning with neurotoxicity resulting from eating spoiled food
contaminated with Clostridium botulinum, which produces botulinum
toxin [Dorland]
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Fact sheet from CDC
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Information sheet from NYS
Dept of Health
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Fact sheet from WHO
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Bromism |
The general
cachetic condition induced by bromine, when affecting the system
toxically.
[Dunglison1874]
Bromine:
a
nonmetallic
largely
pentavalent
heavy
volatile
corrosive
dark
brown
liquid
element
belonging
to
the
halogens;
found
in
sea
water
[Wordnet] |
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Cantharidism |
Poisoning with cantharides, either by
their ingestion by the mouth or by absorption from a cantharidal
blister. The chief symptoms are strangury, burning pain in the
urethra, swelling or even gangrene of the genitals, and the
passage of bloody and albuminous urine, together with the usual
gastrointestinal signs of irritant poisoning if the drug has
been taken by the mouth. The lesions are inflammatory conditions
of the kidneys and bladder. Death may occur from the primary
irritant effect upon the gastrointestinal canal or from the
subsequent renal and cystic inflammation. [Dunglison1868] |
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Carbolic Acid
Poisoning |
An irritant poison.
Symptoms: vomiting of frothy mucus; lining membrane of the mouth
white and hardened; severe abdominal pain; cold, clammy skin;
insensibility, coma, stertorous breathing; pupils contracted;
odor of carbolic acid. [Dunglison1874].
Introduced into the system, either
by mouth or through an open surface, it acts as a powerful
poison. It coagulates albumin and is very destructive to the
lower forms of animal and vegetable life; hence it is much used
as an antiseptic and disinfectant. Its long continued
application, even in a weak solution, sometimes causes gangrene.
[Appleton1904].
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Example from a 1919 Death
Certificate from Georgia:
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Carbolism |
The state of being poisoned with carbolic
acid. The chief symptoms are feebleness of the pulse, which may
be either accelerated or retarded, faintness, stertorous
breathing, muscular weakness, and finally collapse. Vomiting,
diarrhea, vertigo, coma, general anesthesia, and convulsions are
also observed in some cases. The urine becomes dark colored and
in some cases nearly black, and show a marked diminution or
almost complete absence of sulphates. Carbolism may be very
acute, coming on immediately after the ingestion or application
of carbolic acid and causing death within very few hours, or it
may be insidious in its onset, with symptoms lasting for several
weeks. The latter form is due especially to the prolonged and
continuous application of the acid. [Appleton1904]. |
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Carbon Monoxide |
Carbon monoxide poisoning occurs after
enough inhalation of carbon monoxide (CO). Carbon monoxide is a
toxic gas, but, being colorless, odorless, tasteless, and
non-irritating, it is very difficult for people to detect.
Carbon monoxide is a product of combustion of organic matter
with insufficient oxygen supply and is often produced in
domestic or industrial settings by motor vehicles and other
gasoline-powered tools, heaters, and cooking equipment.
[Wikipedia].
Fact sheet from CDC |
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Example from a 1907 Funeral Home
Record in California:
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Cereal Convulsion |
Rapahania. A
singular disorder of the convulsive kind, attended with a peculiar
tingling and formication in the arms and legs. It is said to
be endemic in Germany, and to arise from the use of spoiled
corn. [Dunglison1868] |
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Chloroform Poisoning |
Chloroform vapor,
inhaled in a concentrated form, produces speedily fatal effects.
Diluted with atmospheric air, it causes insensibility and total
loss of muscular power, death sometimes resulting from shock,
syncope, or convulsions. When swallowed as a liquid, it is a
much less active poison. [Dunglison1874] |
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Devonshire Colic |
Colic of Poitou. A species of colic,
occasioned by the introduction of lead into the system, and
named from its frequent occurrence in Devonshire and Poitou,
where lead was formerly used to destroy the acidity of the weak
wines and cider made in these parts. It is also called painter's
colic, from the same cause. [Hoblyn1855]
Lead Poisoning |
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Dry Bellyache |
Lead Poisoning |
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Dry Gripes |
Lead Colic |
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Ergotism |
An epidemic occurring in moist districts,
from the use or ergota, in rye bread. Its forms are, the
convulsive, - a nervous disease, characterized by violent
spasmodic convulsions; and the gangrenous, - a depraved state of
the constitution, terminating in dry gangrene, and known in
Germany by the name of creeping sickness. [Hoblyn1855]
The poisonous effects
of ergot of rye. [Thomas1875]
Chronic poisoning,
or ergotism, used frequently to occur amongst the poor fed on
rye infected with the Claviceps. As it is practically impossible
to reproduce the symptoms of ergotism nowadays, whether experimentally
in the lower animals, or when the drug is being administered
to a human being for some therapeutic purpose, it is believed
that the symptoms of ergotism were rendered possible only by
the semi-starvation which must have ensued from the use of such
rye-bread; for the grain disappears as the fungus develops.
There were two types of ergotism. In the gangrenous form various
parts of the body underwent gangrene as a consequence of the
arrest of blood supply produced by the action of sphacelinic
acid on the arteries. In the spasmodic form the symptoms were
of a nervous character. The initial indications of the disease
were cutaneous itching, tingling and formication, which gave
place to actual loss of cutaneous sensation, first observed
in the extremities. Amblyopia and some loss of hearing also
occurred, as well as mental failure. With weakness of the voluntary
muscles went intermittent spasms which weakened the patient
and ultimately led to death by implication of the respiratory
muscles. The last-known epidemic of ergotism occurred in Lorraine
and Burgundy in the year 1816. [Britannica1911].
Ergotism could be called a "cereal killer"
for its cause, ergot, comes from cereals such as rye and wheat
and is quite capable of killing someone. A fungus (Claviceps
purpurea) that contaminates rye and wheat produces substances
(alkaloids) termed ergotamines. Ergotamines constrict blood
vessels and cause the muscle of the uterus to contract. They
have been much used and been very useful for the treatment of
migraine. They have also been used and misused as abortifacients
(agents of abortion). In excess, however, ergotamines can cause
symptoms such as hallucinations, severe gastrointestinal upset,
a type of dry gangrene, and a painful burning sensation in the
limbs and extremities. Chronic ergot poisoning (ergotism) was
rife during the Middle Ages due to the consumption of
contaminated rye. Because of the burning pain, it was known as "ignis
sacer" (holy fire), "ignis infernalis" (hell's fire) and St.
Anthony's fire. [Medicinenet]
Poisoning of
humans or other animals from excessive or misdirected medicinal
use of ergot, or from eating ergotized grain; it is marked by
cerebrospinal symptoms, spasms, cramps, and sometimes a kind
of dry gangrene. [Dorland].
Epidemic ergotism
is caused by eating black bread made from rye which has been
infected by the Claviceps fungus. [Cartwright] |
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Gelseminia |
Gelseminum: Gelsemium Nitidum: Yellow
Jessamine. The flowers, root, etc., of this shrub of the
Southern States are employed, and the effluvia from the former
are said sometimes to induce stupor. The root is officinal.
Gelseminum is a nervous and arterial sedative, and in overdoses
a poison. It is usually prescribed in the form of tincture.
[Dunglison 1874]. |
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Example from an 1871 Death
Record from Michigan:
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Hippo |
An arrow poison said to be employed by the
Lakaye and Somang tribes in Africa, causing vomiting, tetanic convulsions,
and death by simultaneous arrest of the respiration and cardiac
action; probably made from a species of strychnos. [Appleton1904] |
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Hydrochloric
Acid Poisoning |
Symptoms: hydrochloric
acid gases produce, when inhaled, violent irritation of the
organs of respiration; cough, bloody expectoration, inflammation
of the lungs, and permanent pulmonary disease. [Dunglison1874] |
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Lead Colic |
A violent form
of intestinal colic, associated with obstinate constipation,
produced by chronic lead poisoning. [Webster] |
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Lead
Mania |
Mania due to plumbism. [Dunglison 1903]. |
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Lead
Palsy |
Lead Paralysis. The paralysis of the upper
extremities especially, induced by the poison of lead. [Dunglison1855] |
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Lead Poisoning |
Morbid phenomena
induced by lead received into the system. [Dunglison1855].
Symptoms: irritation
of the alimentary canal; spasm; nervous symptoms; paralysis,
either partial or complete. When taken for some time, in small
quantity, violent and obstinate colic; rigidity of abdominal
muscles, cramps; remission of pain; obstinate constipation,
urine diminished, saliva increased; countenance anxious and
gloomy. If relief be not promptly obtained, giddiness, debility,
torpor, coma, convulsions and death. The paralysis affects generally
the upper extremities. [Dunglison1874].
Lead poisoning, or plumbism, a disease of occupations, which
is itself the cause of organic disease, particularly of the nervous
and urinary systems. The workpeople affected are principally those
engaged in potteries where lead-glaze is used; but other industries
in which health is similarly affected are filemaking, house-painting
and glazing, glass-making, copperworking, coach-making, plumbing
and gasfitting, printing, cutlery, and generally those occupations
in which lead is concerned. The symptoms of chronic lead poisoning
vary within very wide limits, from colic and constipation up to
total blindness, paralysis, convulsions and death. They are thus
described by Dr J. T. Arlidge (Diseases of Occupations) : The poison
finds its way gradually into the whole mass of the circulating blood,
and exerts its effects mainly on the nervous system, paralyzing
nerve-force and with it muscular power. Its victims become of a
sallow-waxy hue; the functions of the stomach and bowels are deranged,
appetite fails and painful colic with constipation supervenes. The
loss of power is generally shown first in the fingers, hands and
wrists, and the condition known as wrist-drop soon follows, rendering
the victim useless for work. The palsy will extend to the shoulders,
and after no long time to the legs also. Other organs frequently
involved are the kidneys, the tissue of which becomes permanently
damaged; whilst the sight is weakened or even lost. [Britannica1911]
Information sheet from NYS Dept
of Health |
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Example from a 1920 Death
Certificate from Ohio:
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Lead Rheumatism |
Lead Neuralgia. The neuralgic and spasmodic
pains caused by the poison of lead. [Dunglison1855] |
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Luminal Poisoning |
Overdose of Luminal.
Luminal: a long-acting barbiturate used as
a sedative. Also called Purple Heart. [Wordnet]
A sedative/anticonvulsant
barbiturate that has been used to treat diarrhea and to increase
the antitumor effect of other therapies. [Hyperdictionary] |
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Mercurial Erethism |
An affection arising from the use of
mercury, and characterized by irregular action of the heart,
frequent sighing, trembling, etc. [Hoblyn1855] |
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Mercurial Tremors |
Workers in mercury, such as water-gilders, looking-glass
makers, and the makers of barometers and thermometers, are apt
to suffer from a peculiar form of shaking palsy, known as the
trembles, or mercurial tremor. This disease affects most frequently
those who are exposed to mercurial fumes. The victim is affected
with tremors when an endeavor is made to exert the muscles,
so that he is unable, for instance, to convey a glass of water
to the lips steadily, and when he walks he breaks into a dancing
trot. The treatment consists in removal from the mercurial atmosphere,
baths, fresh air, and the administration of iron and other tonics.
[Britanica1911] |
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Mercury Poisoning |
Symptoms: similar
to those of irritant poisons; harsh metallic astringent taste;
burning pain in the stomach; vomiting and purging, frequently
of bloody matter; often irritation of the urinary organs, and
sometimes suppression; tightness and burning in the throat,
occasionally so great as to prevent speech; countenance not
always pale, but sometimes flushed; tendency to doze; stupor,
convulsions and death. [Dunglison1874] |
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Milk Poisoning |
Milk Sickness |
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Milk Sickness |
A disease endemic in the Western States of
Alabama, Indiana, and Kentucky. It affects both man and beast.
It is commonly attributed, in cattle, to something eaten or
drunken by them; and in man, to the eating of the flesh of
animals which have been affected with the disease. From the
rigors which occur in animals, the disease has been called
trembles. [Hoblyn1855]
An endemic disease in
the Western States, including Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Alabama,
etc.., resulting, it is supposed, from the milk being poisoned
by something eaten by the cow. [Thomas1875]
A peculiar malignant
disease, occurring in some parts of the Western United States,
and affecting certain kinds of farm stock (esp. cows), and persons
who make use of the meat or dairy products of infected cattle.
Its chief symptoms in man are uncontrollable vomiting, obstinate
constipation, pain, and muscular tremors. Its origin in cattle
has been variously ascribed to the presence of certain plants
in their food, and to polluted drinking water. [Webster] |
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Example from an 1870 Mortality
Schedule
from Kentucky: |
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Mortification
Ergot |
Ergotism |
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Mortification
Mildew |
Ergotism |
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Oxalic Acid Poisoning |
Oxalic acid is a vegetable acid. When taken in the state
of concentrated solution it acts as a corrosive, but when diluted
as an irritant. But it also exerts a specific effect, killing
the patient by cardiac syncope not infrequently within a few
minutes. When a person after taking a crystalline substance,
tasting strongly acid, dies within 15 or 30 minutes, after the
manifestation of great weakness, small pulse and failure of
the hearts power, poisoning by oxalic acid is almost certain.
[Britannica1911]. |
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Example from a 1909 Death
Certificate from England: |
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Phosphorus |
Of the two chief forms of the element the yellow or ordinary
and the red or amorphous, the former only is poisonous. Rarely
there is met with a chronic form of poisoning among workers
in the material, arising from the inhalation of phosphorus vapors.
Its special characteristic is a peculiar necrosis or death of
the bony structure of the lower jaw. Acute phosphorus poisoning
is more common. Phosphorus is used for tipping matches, and
is also the basis of several vermin destroyers. [Britannica1911] |
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Pink Disease |
A condition seen
primarily in childhood, most often resulting from chronic exposure
to mercury compounds which may result in encephalopathy and
polyneuropathy. Clinical features include pain, swelling and
pinkish discoloration of the fingers and toes, weakness in the
extremities, extreme irritability, hyperesthesia, and alterations
in level of consciousness. (From Menkes, Textbook of Child Neurology,
5th ed, p603) [MedDictOnline] |
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Plumbism |
Lead Poisoning |
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Ptomaine
Poisoning |
Food poisoning,
erroneously believed to be the result of ptomaine ingestion.
Not in scientific use. [Heritage]
Ptomaine: A basic nitrogenous organic compound produced by bacterial
putrefaction of protein. |
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Example from a 1921 Death
Certificate from Georgia:
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Puking Fever
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Milk Sickness. [Neill1866]
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Quininism |
The aggregate of encephalic or neuropathic phenomena induced by
overdoses of quinine. [Dunglison1868].
That disturbance of the nervous
system caused by large doses, or by the continued use, of the
sulphate of quinine. [Thomas1875]
Quinine: An alkaloid extract
from the bark of the cinchona tree which is used to treat malaria
and fever; it is also a minor ingredient in tonic water. Quinine
poisoning produces symptoms such as nausea, rash, ringing in the
ears, and possibly heart failure. [HyperBiology] |
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Rapahania / Rhaphania |
A convulsive
disease, not uncommon in Germany and Sweden, and which has been
attributed to the seeds of the Raphanus being mixed with the
corn. The convulsions are seated in the limbs, and are attended
with acute pain. [Dunglison1868]
A spasmodic disease
supposed to be due to poisoning by the seeds of Rhaphanus rhaphanistrum,
the wild radish. [CancerWEB] |
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Salmonella
Poisoning |
Gastroenteritis
that is caused by food contaminated with bacteria of the genus
Salmonella which multiply freely in the gastrointestinal
tract but do not produce septicemia. Symptoms include fever,
headache, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, and abdominal pain.
[Heritage]
Fact sheet from WHO |
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Saturnism |
Lead Poisoning |
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Sausage Poisoning |
Botulism |
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Sick Stomach
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Milk sickness
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Slaty Anemia |
A term applied to a grayish color of the
face in poisoning by acetanilide or silver. [Dorland] |
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Slows
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Milk Sickness. [Neill1866]
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Strychnine |
An extremely poisonous white crystalline alkaloid used as
a poison for rodents and formerly used topically as a central
nervous system stimulant. [Heritage].
Strychnine, and all substances containing that alkaloid,
produce their effects within a very few minutes usually within
ten or fifteen minutes. The patient complains of stiffness about
the neck, and his aspect exhibits terror. There is an impression
of impending calamity or death. Very speedily the head is jerked
back, the limbs extended, the back arched (opisthotonos), so
that the body may rest on the head and heels only. In a few
moments these symptoms pass off, and there is complete relaxation
of the spasm. The spasmodic condition speedily returns, and
is brought about by the slightest touch or movement of the patient.
Accessions and remissions of the tetanic state ensue rapidly
till the patient succumbs, usually within half an hour of the
administration of the poison. The best treatment is to put,
and keep, the patient under the influence of chloroform till
time is given for the excretion of the alkaloid, having previously
given a full dose of chioral hydrate. [Britannica1911]. |
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Example from an 1871 death record
from Michigan: |
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Example from a 1919 Death
Certificate from Georgia:
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Sulphuric Acid
Gas |
The gas given off by burning sulphur is most suffocating
and irritating. Its inhalation, even in a highly diluted state,
may cause speedy death from spasmodic closure of the glottis.
[Britannica1911] |
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Swamp Cheese |
Eating
Swamp Cheese - From a death record: "Bridget
Bagley died August 1864; aged Two years one month; White Female,
attending physician's cause of death: Eating Swamp Cheeses."
Low Mallow is a native plant of North
America. It is also known as Swamp Cheese because of the cheese
shaped fruit. See the following website for additional
information;
Altnature |
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Tires |
Milk Sickness. [Neill1866] |
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Toxic |
Of, relating
to, or caused by a toxin or other poison. [Dorland] |
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Trembles |
Milk Sickness. [Neill1866] A popular term for mercurial tremor.
[Thomas1875] |
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Wrist Drop |
Paralysis of the muscles of the forearm,
usually produced by poisoning by lead. [Hoblyn1855] |
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