92 On the different Modes in which Death 



Wc mav conclude from these experiments, that the effect 

 of the intiision of tobacco, when injected into the intestine 

 of a living- animal, is to destroy the action of the heart, 

 stopping; liie circulation and producing svncope. It ap- 

 peared to me that the action of the heart ceased even before 

 tlie animal had ceased to respire; and this was confirmed 

 bv another ixi.'erimeni, in which, in a dog killed by the in- 

 fusion of tobacco, 1 fonnd the cavities of tiie Ui'l side ot the 

 heart to contam scarlet, blood, while in those of the riiiht 

 side the blood was dark-coK)urcd. Tiiis poison therefore 

 differs materiallv iiom alcohol, the essentiaT oil of almonds, 

 and the juice of aconite, which have no direct influence on 

 the action of the heart. The infusion of tobacco renders 

 the heart insensible to the slimnliis of the blood, but it 

 does not altogether destroy the power of nniscular contrac- 

 tion, since the lu-art resunied its action in one instance on 

 the divisitm of the pericardium, and I hive found that the 

 voKmtarv muscles of an animal killed by this poison, are as 

 rcaddy stimula'.td to contract by the influence of the Voltaic 

 battery, as if it had been killed in any other njanncr. At 

 the same time, however, that the infusion of tobacco de- 

 stroys the action of the heart, it appears to dciilroy also the 

 functions of the biain, since these did nf)t return in the 

 last experiment ; allhougli the circulation was restored, and 

 kept up bv artificial respn-ation. 



Since there is no direct communication between the in- 

 testinal canal and the heart, I v\as at first induced to sup- 

 > pose that the latter becomes afTecicd in consccjucnce of the 

 infusion being convevcd into the blood bv ab->orption. Some 

 circumstances in the following exptrimeni liavc since led 

 me to doubt whether this is the case. 



Exp, 12. In a dog, whose bead was renmved, I kept 

 up the circulation by means of artificial ri.s|)irt!tion, in the 

 manner already described in the account of some experi- 

 ments which I lately communicated to this Society. I 

 then injected into the stomach and intestines nine ounces 

 of infusion of tobacco. At the time of the injection, the 

 body of the animal lay perfecilv quiet and motionless on 

 the table; the heart acted regularly one hundred times in a 

 minute. Ten minutes aitcrwards the pulse rose to one hun- 

 dred and forty in a minute; the peristaltic motion of the 

 intestines was much increased, and the voluntary nnjscles 

 in every part of the bodv were thrown into repeated and 

 violent spasniv'dic action. The joints of the extremities 

 were alternately bc'.;t and -extended ; the muscles of the 



spine. 



