132 On the Organs of Absorption. 



those which have been made on the same subject, appeaf 

 to me totally insufficient to decide eiiher of these questions; 

 only it ought to be remarked, that our cxperia'.ents arc 

 strongly in iavour ot a direct absorption by the veins. 



Bui it is a tact rendered evident by the preccduig ex- 

 periments, and upon which it is necessary to pause a mo- 

 ment, that the venous blood becomes charged with the 

 poison ; and that, by the intervention or means oF this 

 blood, the poison produces its deleterious action upon the 

 system. Tn fact, if in the experiments where I had sepa« 

 rated the thigh from the trunk, we suspend the course of 

 the venous blood, by compressing between tvv/o fingers the 

 crural vein, we lessen, and even totaliv suspend, the pro- 

 duction of the effects. The blood of an animal, in which 

 the signs of action of the ^ipas are developed, contains then 

 some portion of poisonous matter; indeed it nsay be said 

 to be reallv poisoned. It were curious and iiueresiing to 

 know, if this blood, carried into the circulatory system of 

 a healthy animal, would produce effects similar to those it 

 had upon the animal itself. At first sight, we are led to 

 believe that this is extremely probable, even that it is cer- 

 tain. The following experiments will show with what care 

 we ought, in physiology, to distinguish that which is pro- 

 bable from that which- is proved by experiment. 



We passed the arterial blood of an animal, in which the 

 tetanus caused by the upas was manifest, into the jugular 

 vein of a healthy animal ; the transfusion lasted near twenty 

 minutes, so that the healthy animal received a very con- 

 siderable quantity of poisoned blood, which at the first mo- 

 ment of the experiment was of a red and vermilion co- 

 lour, and which afterwards became violet and black, wtien 

 the vpas had produced asphyxia. There did not, however^ 

 appear any irritation of the spinal marrow, and the animal 

 only experienced what happens in common transfusions 

 made with car:. I mean, that it had for some hours a 

 very marked acceleration of the inspiratory and expiratory 

 motions, as well as a very abundant pulmonary exhalation. 

 Frequently repeated, this experiment has always produced 

 the same results. 



We were now certain, that the arterial blood of animals 

 poisoned by the upas lietde, the m/x vomica, or the l'ea7t of 

 St. Ignatius, was not susceptible of producing siit-.ilar ef- 

 fects on other animals ; it would not be. perhaps, the sa-ne 

 with the venous blood. It may he presumed, that the re- 

 spiratory action changed the nature of the poisonous sub- 

 stance j and this alteration might, to a certain degree, give 



the 



