- sibility, and died in two hours.[1] Murray, however, asserts in his
Apparatus Medicaminum that the expressed juice is sweet and not poisonous.[2] But this apparent contradiction is easily explained by referring to the chemical relations of the almond,—the oil expressed without water being free from essential oil, while the milky fluid expressed from the pulp beat up with water is strongly impregnated with it.—Another case was published not long ago by Mr. Kennedy of London; but the symptoms were imperfectly ascertained. The person, a stout labourer, appeared to have eaten a great quantity of bitter almonds, which were subsequently found in the stomach. He was seen to drop down while standing near a wall; soon after which the surgeon who was sent for found him quite insensible, with the pulse imperceptible, and the breath exhaling the odour of bitter almonds; and death took place in no long time.[3]
Coullon has noticed many other instances where alarming symptoms were produced by this poison, but were dissipated by the supervention of spontaneous vomiting.
The effects of small doses of the oil have been tried by Sir B. Brodie on himself; and a fatal case of poisoning with it has been recorded by Mertzdorff. In the course of his experiments Sir B. Brodie once happened to touch his tongue with the end of a glass rod which happened to be dipped in the oil; and he says he had scarcely done so before he felt an uneasy, indescribable feeling in the pit of the stomach, great feebleness of his limbs, and loss of power to direct the muscles, so that he could hardly keep himself from falling. These sensations were quite momentary.[4]
Mertzdorff's case is interesting, not only as being accurately related, but likewise on account of the exact resemblance of the symptoms to those observed in the celebrated case of Sir Theodosius Boughton, which will presently be mentioned. A hypochondriacal gentleman, 48 years old, swallowed two drachms of the essential oil. A few minutes afterwards, his servant, whom he sent for, found him lying in bed, with his features spasmodically contracted, his eyes fixed, staring, and turned upwards, and his chest heaving convulsively and hurriedly. A physician, who entered the room twenty minutes after the draught had been taken, found him quite insensible, the pupils immoveable, the breathing stertorous and slow, the pulse feeble and only 30 in a minute, and the breath strongly impregnated with the odour of bitter almonds, death ensued ten minutes afterwards.[5] A fatal case occurred lately in London, where the individual, intending to compound a nostrum for worms with beech-nut oil, got by mistake from the druggist peach-nut oil, which is nothing else than the oil of bitter almond.—A singular case of recovery from a very large dose of this poison has been lately published by M. Chevasse. A shopkeeper, who swallowed half an ounce by mistake for
