Western Reserve chronicle and weekly transcript of the times. [volume] (Warren, Ohio) 1854-1855, 1855-04-04

to be particular about his medicine,
and to take charge Of it. AT subse'
quent period l changed directions, and
told Elsie to take charge Of it. remov-
ed him to my house; he stayed there two
days and nights; his home was south OF
the center; after leaving my house, he
went north to his brothers, and visited
him there; he was away from home about
two weeks, and continued to improve from
the time of moving him, and soon began
to attend to his business;I have not known
of his having spasms since; he has ap'
Piled for medicine occasionally, and has
seemed to want something to guard a.
gainst the return of such spasms; he had
the first of the spasms that know Of
about the Sd of August; the last was not
far from the goth of August; removed
him to my house about the 27th OF Au'
gust; think RolIin generally came fol-
me when his father had these SPELLS
The family consisted of the old gentle
man, Elsie, Rollin, and little girl about
years old; should think Mr.. Leet had
the severe spssms l have mentioned,
about once a week; 1 think twice mott.
ced a slight frothing at the mouth; he
seemed very anxious to get we'll.
Cross examination.
1 was called shortly after the 29th of
July; he was at my Office on The 28th of
July; my brother saw him then; the first
time anything was said Of the suspicious
circumstances of his sickness, was some.
where in the neighborhood of the 10th Of
August; think it was at the second
spasm was called to see, that was con-
suited by my brother with regard to it.
The consultation with Dr. Beebe was
previous to this. l was not at home at
that consultation; L. think had never
visited Mr.. Leet as physician previous
to this. / have been in Vienna as ply
sician two years last October;I 1 had prac.
tised some in his family; l had prescri
bed for his wife; they had some prefer
ence for my brother as physician; pre-
scribed for Elsie perhaps half adozen times
before her fathers sickness; l gave her
once something for tooth ache, and once
for acidity of the stomach. After her
father was moved up north, she was ia.
ken sick with fever; something like chol-
ella morbus, followed by fever; the fever
seemed to result from the irritation fol.
lowing cholera morbus; Rollin was sick
in similar way. visited Elsie every
day for three or four days; she was quite
sick; gave her brandy and loaf sugar
freely at frat, and afterwards put her on
an anti-phlogistic treatment. do not
remember all the medicines l gave her.
The symptoms which are peculiar to
Strychnine, and that alone, it would be
very difficult to state. know of no di
sease, except poisoning from strychine,
which will produced the same symptoms
just as they were exhibited there. In
the case Of the old gentleman, the spasms
would come on by the opening of the
door, or the least touch upon the s<in.--
These spasms universally subsidized to
greater or less extent in about two hours;
that is, the worst was over by that time.
At first, there was not that change in the
pulse we should expectin Inflammation of
of the brain. We examined the brain and
spine, but could find no difficulty there.
Previous to the attack, he would seem to
be getting better, but when they came
on we would find him with very red
tongue. The spasms in Tetanus are
similar to those resulting from strych.
nine the redness of the tongue isl pres.
ent in both, and it is noticeable mall cases
of great Inflammation ofthe stomach. In
Tetanus, the symptoms are continuous;
in strychnine they are iniermitting. This
last was the case with Mr.. Leet. We
find spasms in cases of Hysteria similar
in some respects to those from strych-
nine. If, when called to see Miss e.
sic, had known that she had stepped
on rusty nail, which might have pro
duced Tetanus, should have called il
Tetanus. But The development of such
symptoms in the absence of any
known cause, naturally attributed to
strychnine. Under all the circumstances
as they really were, I should not sttrib-
ute the symptoms to Tetanus. In the
actions of strychnine there is a sort Of
electric shock, and very short spasms
seem to pass through the muscles.
have never seen any cases of strych-
nine poisoning in The human system un-
less these be such. 1 have used strvch-
nine in my practice but very little. ]
give it in dIses from one sixteenth to one
Twelfth of grain. Itacts as ton C. ]
have never seen any marked effects. II
is used by physici ms; cannot say how