290 Chittenden and Blake—Distribution of 
considerable of the antimony given was being absorbed; but bearing 
in mind that this latter amount was the largest excreted by the kid- 
neys in any one day, and further that the daily dose of antimony was 
being increased each day rather than diminished, it is also plainly evi- 
dent from the amount of absorbed antimony found, that a certain por- 
tion must pass through the alimentary canal unabsorbed. Further, the 
small amount of antimony found in the kidneys supplements this 
view, as does also the noticeably small amount of absorbed antimony 
found throughout the body, aside from the liver. 
One of the main objects in trying this last experiment was to see 
what influence the form of the poison would have on its absorption 
by the brain. With arsenic, it has been plainly demonstrated by 
one of us,* as well as by other workers in this field, that soluble and 
readily diffusible forms of arsenic are absorbed by the brain in 
appreciable quantities, while arsenious oxide for example, no matter 
whether taken in large or small doses, single or oft-repeated, is never 
found in the brain other than in mere traces. With antimony we 
had expected to see something of the same kind. The results, how- 
ever, although tending in that direction, are not quite as decisive as 
we should have liked. The antimony found in the brain in the anti- 
monious oxide case is, to be sure, considerably smaller in amount than 
that found in (a), although the dose of antimony given in the former 
was much larger than in the latter case. But it is also to be seen in 
the antimonious oxide case, that the amount of absorbed antimony in 
the brain, although very small, is still greater than the amount found 
in the kidneys or muséle. 
We attempted another experiment in the same direction with rab- 
bits, but as the amounts of antimony found in the brain in both ani- 
mals were hardly more than mere traces, the results do not give us 
any additional light on the matter. In spite of the fact that the 
experiment was a failure, so far as its main object was concerned, we 
venture to describe it, since it well illustrates in other respects, the 
greater virulence and diffusibility of tartar emetic. Two rabbits of 
nearly equal weight were selected, and to one potassium antimony 
tartrate was fed in gradually increasing doses for a period of 17 
days, at the end of which time the animal died with all the symp- 
toms of antimoniacal poisoning. To the other rabbit, antimonious 
oxide was fed for the same period of time, in doses the same as given 
to the first rabbit; that is, doses equivalent to the antimony (Sb) 
contained in the tartar emetic. Each rabbit, therefore, received 
EE el es Se ee So 2m 
* See Studies from this Laboratory, vol. i, for the year 1884—85, p. 141. 
