72 PHYSIOLOGY AND TOXICOLOGY 



I had left liini contained a good deal of dark, semi-fluid excrement streaked with 

 blood, and he had drunk nearly the third of a bucket of water during the night. 



The remaining instances of Crotalus bite in dogs were all fatal, and were selected, 

 like the last series, as being the most illustrative records in my possession. It will 

 be observed, as I have already stated, that no deaths took place so early as to give 

 us perfect specimens of acute poisoning with absence of visceral lesions, and with 

 a perfectly red and coagulable blood. That such cases may occur in the dog, under 

 more favorable experimental conditions, I cannot doubt from what I have already 

 seen in other animals. 



Experiment. — A dog of mongrel bull-terrier breed, weighing thirty-one pounds, 

 was lowered into the cage, where he was struck on the outside of the right hind leg 

 in the thigh. lie drew up the leg when released, and whined for a few minutes. 

 The wound, which was double, bled a drop or two, and the muscles about it 

 twitched considerably at intervals for an hour, when this symptom was obscured 

 by the swelling. His pulse, which was naturally about 145 and irregular, was, at 

 the fifth minute, 140 and regular, respiration 35. At the fifteenth minute he lay 

 down, much weakened, pulse 160 and feeble, respiration 40. At the twentieth 

 minute the bowels moved loosely, with a gray discharge, and there seemed to be 

 some tenesmus in the rectum. Twenty-fifth minute, pupils so far natural and 

 mobile ; he could stand when urged, but lay down again at once, and was much 

 weaker. Forty-fifth minute, pulse 160, respiration 45 and laborious. Fifty-fifth 

 minute, loss of power in the hind legs. Eightieth minute, respiration quick and 

 labored, and so irregular as to make it impossible longer to count the heart pulses. 

 The eyes were natural, and followed my motions ; and he wagged his tail when 

 fondled. At this time the observation was tempoi'arily interrupted, and, on its 

 resumption at the third hour, the dog was found dead. He had no foam about his 

 mouth, and probably died quietly. 



P. M. Section. — The whole muscular and areolar tissue of the leg and thigh, half 

 way up and down the limb, was dark wnth infiltrated blood. About the wound 

 the swelling was due to a mass of blood partially coagulated. The extravasated 

 blood extended through the limb, and on the inside it passed half way up the 

 sartorius and adductors, and along the sheath of the vessels to within two inches 

 of the femoral ring. Nearly an inch of the sheath was clear of it, but one-half 

 inch below the ring the tissues were shaded with blood, and the same appearance 

 was seen around the ring itself. From this point the extravasation extended 

 under the peritoneum, into the pelvis, and on to the inner face of the ilium. The 

 color of the tissues thus stained was a brilliant scarlet. The abdominal viscera were 

 healthy, except that the mucous membrane of the lower bowels was somewhat 

 congested. The lungs were sound. The heart was relaxed, the right side full, 

 the left nearly empty. The blood on the right side was a little darker than that 

 on the left; on both sides and everywhere else it was perfectly fluid and free from 

 clots. Placed in a vial, it remained fluid until decomposition ensued. Two hours 

 at least after death, some of the blood globules found in the heart were slightly 

 indented; those taken from the small vessels of the ear were perfectly normal. At 



