The new Northwest. [volume] (Portland, Or.) 1871-1887, 1876-04-14
A Supposed Death bE Lobelia.

The following notice and subjoined
criticism we publish at the request of
the writer of the last, which speaks
plainly for itself.
A serious case of accident al poisoning
occurred in South Salem last Monday.
A daughter of Mr.. George Mercer, aged
nine years, had been ailing for several
days, and its mother gave it a dose of
lobelia as an emetic. By some means
too much was given, and the little girl
was thrown into spasms. DIR. Hall was
Immediately called, and rendered all
the assistance that lay in his power;
but to no effect, and she bTeathed her
last on Tuesday mOrning.-StateSnld
Criticism on the above notice by DR..
H. Shelton, Salem, Oregon:
Having noticed in Wednesdays
Daily Statesman a report of the death
of Mr.. Mercer's little girl from poison
ing by lobebia, as asserted by Doctors
Hall, Reynolds, and Carpenter, and be-
ing myself an uncompromising friend
of lobelia, both from positive knowl-
edge of the agent itself, and from a
daily experience in its use as a medi-
cine for fifteen years, during which
time / have given it without weight or
powder, decoction, infusion, tincture,
syrup, oxymel and pill; by the grain,
scruple and teaspOonful; to men,
women and babes; to the robust, ner-
vous, irritable and debilitated; at morn
! Ing, noon and night and every hour in
the twenty-fOur; to the point of nausea,
sweating, vomiting, relaxation and
"alarm;" at the rate of a dTachm, an
ounce, and, in great many instances,
| four ounces of the seed in twenty-four
hours by the mouth, the bowels and
| the skin, and in almost every other
way, in more than six thousand sepa-
rate and distinct cases, without, in any
case, any bad effects following its use;
and 1 cannot see how it can be possible
that this little girl, nine years old,
could have been killed by the taking of
one and half ounces of the weak tine
ture, II say weak tincture, because
made from the imported herb, nobody
knows how long since}, in which she
could not possibly have taken more
than a drachm, or teaspoOnful of the
powdered herb. But let US see. Mr..
Mercer tells me that she was by nature
delicate child, subject to occasional
chills and sick spells, as if she might
| have worms. In fact, had a chill the
Friday before; and, on the morning of
the day of her illness, looked very pale,
and complained of feeling very sick at
| her stomach, and soon vOmited about
quart of dark, greenish material before
she took any medicine at all, and her
mother, thinking she ought to vomiC
more, sent to Weatherford's and OBJ
tanned two ounces of the tincture of To-
bella, Ia medicine she had given before
with perfect cOniidence), and gave it in
| teaspOonful doses in mposition-tea
every fifteen minutes until she had
given about an ounce and half, when
she vomited again, throwing up about
quart more, and most, if not all, of
the lObelia, after which she went into
the fatal spasm. When DR.. Hall ar
rived he put her into a hot mustard
bath, gave hot coffee and hypodermic
injection of AtrOpin deadly night
shade), sent for Doctors Reynolds and
Carpenter, pronounced it a case of
poisoning by lObelia, repeated. the in
jections of night-shade, coffee, and other
stimulants until she died. Now, query:
What killed the child? The lobeli&
she took ? Most certainly not. For,
whether elected or retained, whether
used in grains or in ounces, whether
given to the strong or the feeble, it is
alike harmless and reliable. Or, was it
for the want of proper after-treatment
when lobeiia was given or would she
have died without anything? A case
in point: ] was called about year ago
to see little girl below town similarly
affected, but who had taken nothing.
L prepared to give her bath and medi-
cine, but, before giving either, she went
into a severe eonvulsion, and died in
half an hour. Query: What killed
her. Not lobelia, evidently, for I gave
her none. But, had L given her
ever so small a portion, L suppose
the conclusion by these physicians
would have been that she died
from poisoning by lobelia." The most
rational conclusion, therefore, as re-
CARDS the death of Mr.. Mercer's little
girl is, that she died from cerebro-spindt
congestion, the result of reflex nervous
action from stomach and bowel irrita-
tion produced by worms or other irri-
tants before any medicine was given,
and might have occurred, had she taken
nothing at all. The opinion, therefore,
of these physicians, to the effect that
she died from poisoning by lObelia was,
to say the least of it, hasty and very in
discreet; in fact, not true in any essen
tial particular.