of the University of Pennsylvania. 77 



was then applied in the open air, on a windy day. 

 Different doses were applied ; thus, in one case, one 

 drop of nicotine, applied to the skin, caused death in 

 five hours and eleven minutes. In each of three 

 cases a similar application of ten drops was fatal in 

 respectively one hundred and nine minutes, twenty- 

 eight minutes, and thirty-six minutes. In the fifth 

 case, a similar application of fifteen drops of nicotine 

 caused death in twenty-eight minutes. 



Of the ante-mortem symptoms, contraction of the 

 pupil was constant, and often appeared very quickly. 

 Other prominent symptoms were great trembling, 

 with subsequent loss of muscular power in the 

 extremities. In one case actual convulsions were 

 noted, and in others, coldness of the skin and in- 

 creased lachrymal and nasal secretion. Immedi- 

 ately upon the death of two of the animals (after 

 the ten- and fifteen-drop doses respectively) blood 

 was removed, defibrinated, and tested with mercuric 

 chloride for the presence of nicotine in the manner 

 detailed by Wormley (Micro-Chemistry of Poisons). 

 In each of these two instances characteristic groups 

 of crystals were found upon microscopic examination 

 of the extract from the blood. 



