84 WINTER FOOD OF THE PARTRIDGE—SOMERS. 
the digestive organs to the blood vessels. The breast of this bird 
and flesh of other two were eaten by the rest of the household 
without unpleasant results. JI can, however, understand that the 
whole of this bird would have become poisonous in time. It was 
killed shortly after feeding, and the poison had not had time 
to diffuse itself. This will account for the immunity of those 
who had eaten of the white meat only. _ The putrefaction 
theory is out of court also. The bird was quite fresh, as the 
gizzard and parts before you testifies. More than this, a 
man in health with good digestion can dispose of flesh in a state 
of putrefaction with perfect ease. The third then is the only 
causation to which we can attribute the development of poisonous 
properties in the flesh of the Partridge at certain times of the 
year, and I think the facts stated above are sufficient to convince 
any reasonable person of the correctness of this view, the 
symptoms exhibited prove the poison to belong to the class of 
arterial sedatives—said sometimes to be narcotics. The more 
powerful of the class are not narcotic in the true acceptance of 
the term. “There was no tendency to sleep in my case.” Their 
action is to depress the circulation by slowing the movements of 
the heart acting no doubt, through the peneumo-gastric nerves 
and probably also upon the great splanchnic nerves; there is also 
arterial contraction and diminished blood in the capillaries, hence 
the bloodless skin, vomiting, vertigo and loss of consciousness 
experienced in this case. 
An extract from a memoir of Dr. Stabler in Griffith’s Medical 
Botany, p. 429 says, a large dose of a strong decoction, of Kalmia 
latifolia caused in half an hour vertigo, dimness of sight, great 
depression of the heart’s action and cold extremities, without, 
however, producing any disorder of the mental faculties. It is 
said in the same work, on the authority of Dr. B.S. Barton, the 
American Indians used the plant for suicidal purposes. The 
symptoms of Kalmia poisoning given by Stabler coincide so 
closely with those of Partridge poisoning we are safe in assuming 
that they are due to one and the same poison. It is also conceded 
from a therapeutical point of view that Kalmia Angustifolia is 
more active than K. Latifolia, the former plant being the one 
found in the stomachs of our Partridges during the winter season. 
