On the Organs of Al'sorpllon. 131 



We separated from its body the thigh of a dog, previ- 

 ously rendered comatose by opium, (in order to spare it the 

 pain or a difficult experiment ;) this separation was so 

 made, that the thigh still comniunicated with the trunk 

 by the cniral artery and vein. We took, with regard to 

 these two vessels, the same precautions as for the mesen- 

 uric vein and artery in the preceding experiments; that 

 is, we isolated thcni on an extent of four centimetres, and 

 raised their cellular coal, lest it should conceal some lym- 

 phatic vessels ; we then inserted two grains of the poison 

 in the foot, and waited the efl'ects. They manifested them- 

 selves with as much promptitude and energy as if the 

 thigh had not been separated from the body ; insomuch 

 thai the first signs of the action of the vpas appeared before 

 the fourth minute, and the animal died before the tenth. 



It may be objected, that notwithstanding all the pre- 

 cautions taken, the arterial and venous parietes still con- 

 tained some lymphatics, and that these vessels were suffi- 

 cient to <i"ive passage to the poison. It were easy to refute 

 this objection. 



I repeated, upon another dog, the preceding experiments, 

 with this modification, that 1 introduced into the crural 

 artery a small quill, upon which I fixed this vessel by two 

 ligatures ; the artery was afterwards cut circularly betweea 

 these two bands. I did the same to the crural vein; so 

 that theie was no longer any communication hettveen the 

 thigh and the rest of the body, lui'.css by the arterial blood 

 which conies to the thigh, and by the venous blood which 

 returns to the trunk. The poison introduced into the foot 

 produced its gciural cflects in the ordinary time, that is, 

 in about four nii notes. It may be deduced, 1 believe, from 

 these different experiments, that the lymphatic system is 

 not, at least in certain cases, the exclusive route that foreign 

 substances take to arrive at the venous system. 



This new mode of at)sorplion, much more direct than 

 that by the Iym|)hatics, presents the means of easily con- 

 ceiviui^ the rapidity with which the dilfercnt deleterious 

 and other miiitcrs are absoibed, as well as the rapidity with 

 which they produce iht-ir ellccts upon the system. 



But what are the organs that first absorb the poison from 

 the parts where it has been introduced ? Are they the ra- 

 dicles of the veins, or are they rather the capillary lym- 

 phatics, which, having immediate anastomosis with the 

 sanguiferous capillaries or txhalants, would iitihiediately 

 diffuse the poison through the venous system ? 



The experiments which I have just related, joined to 

 I s those 



