p. 112 | A Dangerous Paragraph by Editor

Publishing Committee · Battle Creek, Mich. · Aug 25, 1859

A Dangerous Paragraph.

By Editor

We find the following paragraph in some of our exchanges, which should as far as possible be corrected; as there is no telling the evil it might do by leading people to resort to dangerous means in the case of accident to the exclusion of those of real utility and benefit. The following is the paragraph:

“How to NEUTRALIZE POISON. A correspondent of the New York Evening Post says:

‘A poison of any conceivable description and degree of potency, which has been intentionally or accidentally swallowed, may be rendered almost instantly harmless by simply swallowing two gills of sweet oil. An individual with a very strong constitution, should take nearly twice the quantity. This oil will most positively neutralize every form of vegetable, animal, or mineral poison with which physicians are acquainted.’”

This statement the Scientific American on the authority of The Druggist, corrects as follows:

“A new and excellent journal, The Druggist, published in Cincinnati, Ohio, states that a paragraph has been extensively circulated in the daily papers to the effect that olive oil is an antidote for all poison. This is so very far from being true, that it increases the effect of one very common poison—phosphorus—and has no power as an antidote to most of the others. There is no universal antidote, and in cases of poisoning, when the proper remedy is not known, the safest plan, in the absence of a competent physician, is to produce a vomiting if it has not already come on, by some simple emetic, such as mustard and water, and then give mucilaginous drinks—such as milk, flour and water, &c.

“Such paragraphs as the one alluded to are calculated to do much harm by leading persons to depend on a remedy which will do no good, to the exclusion of others really efficacious.”