This saline body appears in the state of white crystals, whose primitive
figure is the regular tetrahedron, although it assumes a variety of
secondary forms. Its chemical composition is still involved in some
obscurity; it is stated, in the different dispensatories, to be a triple
salt, consisting of tartaric acid, oxide of antimony, and potass, and
that it ought therefore, according to the principles of the reformed
nomenclature, to be termed a _Tartrate of Antimony and Potass_. The
truth of these views, however, we have already[300] ventured to
question; _Gay Lussac_ has stated that in the various metalline
compounds of which _Super-tartrate of Potass_ is an ingredient, this
latter substance acts the part of a simple acid; an opinion which
receives considerable support from the great solvent property of _cream
of tartar_, and from the striking fact that it is even capable of
dissolving various oxides which are insoluble in tartaric acid, of which
the protoxide of antimony is an example. In such a state of doubt, a
better name could not be found than that of _tartarized antimony_.
The salt, according to _Dr. Duncan_, is soluble in three times its
weight of distilled water at 212° _Fah._ and in fifteen, at 60°.
When it is heated red hot in an earthen crucible, it blackens, and
undergoes decomposition like a vegetable body, leaving a residuum of
metallic antimony, and slightly carbonated potass.
_Symptoms of Poisoning by Emetic Tartar._
A question has arisen whether this salt can be considered as a poison,
capable of occasioning death? In general where a large dose has been
administered, it is all rejected by the vomiting which it excites; we
accordingly find in the works of _Morgagni_ and other pathologists, the
history of various cases in proof of the innocence of this salt.
_Hoffman_, however, relates the case of a woman who experienced very
severe symptoms shortly after having taken tartar emetic, and that she
ultimately died,[301] and there are other similar instances recorded in
the works of _Foderé_ and _Orfila_. It also deserves notice, that
tartarized antimony is very liable to produce deleterious effects,
where, from the insensibility of the nervous system, the operation of
vomiting cannot be excited, as in apoplexy, drunkenness, and in that
state of coma, which follows the ingestion of narcotic vegetables. _M.
Cloquet_ communicated to _Orfila_ a case highly illustrative of this
fact, in which a person, labouring under apoplexy, received into his
stomach more than forty grains of tartar emetic, without exciting either
nausea or vomiting. On opening the body, independent of the morbid state
of the brain, which must be regarded as the immediate cause of death,
extensive organic lesions were discovered in the alimentary canal, which
could alone be attributed to the action of the tartar emetic. This fact
will suggest a very important precaution to the practitioner, who may be
called upon to treat a person labouring under a state of the system
which will prevent the act of vomiting.[302].
The symptoms produced by this salt will resemble those of a corrosive
poison; and where vomiting is produced, it frequently happens that
although the patient may be eventually saved, an irritability of
stomach, so great as to cause the rejection of all aliments, will remain
for a considerable period; and _Dr. Male_ states that in the only case
of poisoning by this salt which he had ever seen, the person was
affected with violent convulsions, which returned at intervals for
several weeks after recovery from the immediate effects of the
poison.[303] _M. Orfila_, after detailing several cases of poisoning by
emetic tartar, concludes by saying that the general symptoms, upon such
occasions, may be reduced to the following: a rough metallic taste;
nausea; copious vomitings; frequent hiccup; cardialgia; burning heat in
the epigastric region; pains of the stomach; abdominal colics;
inflation; copious stools; syncope; small, contracted and accelerated
pulse; skin cold, sometimes intensely hot; breathing difficult; vertigo,
loss of sense, convulsive movements; very painful cramps in the legs;
prostration of strength,—death.
Sometimes to the above symptoms is joined a great difficulty of
swallowing; deglutition may be suspended for some time. The vomiting and
alvine evacuations do not always take place, the necessary consequence
of which is an increase in the violence of the other symptoms.
_Antidotes._
The great indication to be fulfilled in a case of this description, is
the ejection of the salt by vomiting. _MM. Orfila_ and _Berthollet_ rely
very confidently upon the effects of _bark_, _strong tea_, _infusion of
galls_, and other _vegetable astringents_, which have undoubtedly the
power of decomposing the salt. They ought, therefore, to be employed as
diluents to assist vomiting, but they are not to be considered as
antidotes which can render this latter operation less indispensable.
_Physiological action of emetic tartar._
_M. Majendie_ has shewn by experiment, that if _tartarized antimony_ be
injected into the veins of a dog, the animal vomits, and has frequent
stools; his breathing becomes difficult; his pulse frequent and
intermitting; a great degree of disquietude, and tremblings are the
precursory signs of death, which generally takes place within the first
hour from the injection of the emetic tartar. On opening the body great
alterations are perceived in the lungs; they are found of an orange or
violet colour, have no crackling, are distended with blood, and of a
tight texture. The mucous membrane of the intestinal canal, from the
cardia to the extremity of the rectum is red, and strongly injected.
If, instead of thus injecting the emetic tartar into the veins, it be
injected into the stomach, and the œsophagus is tied to prevent
vomiting, _M. Orfila_ informs us that the same alterations will be found
after death. The very same effects will also arise from the application
of the emetic tartar to the different absorbing surfaces, such as the
cellular substances, &c.
_Mr. Brodie_[304] has also thrown considerable light upon the action of
this salt. He observes that the effects of emetic tartar so much
resemble those of _arsenic_, which we have already described, and those
of _muriate of baryta_, which will form a future subject of inquiry,
that it would be needless to enter into a detail of the individual
experiments which he made with it. When applied to a wound in animals
which are capable of vomiting, it usually, but not constantly, operated
very speedily as an emetic; in other respects he found no material
difference in the symptoms produced in the different species of animals,
which he had been in the habit of employing as subjects of experiment.
The symptoms were paralysis, drowsiness, and, at last, complete
insensibility; the pulse became feeble, but the heart continued to act
after apparent death, and was maintained in action by means of
artificial respiration; but never for a longer period than for a few
minutes. Whence it would appear, that this poison acts by being
absorbed, and that it directs a sedative influence upon the heart, as
well as the brain, but that its principal action is on the latter. The
length of time which elapses, from the application of the poison to the
death of the animal, varies; in some instances _Mr. Brodie_ found that
it did not exceed three quarters of an hour, but in others, it was two
or three hours, or even longer, before death took place. When a solution
of emetic tartar was injected into the stomach of a rabbit, _Mr. Brodie_
observed the same symptoms to take place, as when it was applied to a
wound.
_Organic lesions discovered by dissection._
_Mr. Brodie_, in his examination of animals poisoned by _emetic tartar_,
sometimes found the stomach bearing the marks of inflammation, but at
other times, its appearance was perfectly natural. In no case did he
discover any traces of inflammation in the intestines. The reader must
compare this account with that already given by _M. Majendie_, at p.
282.