EXPERIMENTS 267 



difficult respiration, fluid dejections, gastro-intestinal in- 

 flammation, and death in a few hours. Taylor, in his volume 

 On Poisons, records that three to six grains injected into the 

 jugular vein of dogs caused death in eight or ten hours. 

 Frohner states that half a grain to a grain injected intra- 

 venously proves fatal in half an hour, while small quantities 

 applied to the broken skin also kill. 



Pigs are not so susceptible. Hertwig mentions that ten 

 to twenty grains cause nausea and vomiting, but act neither 

 very rapidly nor very certainly ; that one drachm in solu- 

 tion, given to a boar nine months old, caused vomiting, dul- 

 ness, and uneasiness, which continued for three days ; but 

 that two drachms given to a similar animal dissolved in 

 half a litre of water, within an hour and a half caused vomit- 

 ing five times, loss of appetite, thirst, spasms, prostration, 

 and death the following day. Poultry swallowing one to 

 three grains in bolus vomit freely. 



Horses take, per os, without injury, thirty to forty times 

 the quantity of tartar emetic which would prove fatal to a 

 man or dog. Without notable effect they may be given one 

 to four drachms in bolus, and such doses may be repeated 

 night and morning for several days without causing impaired 

 appetite, nausea, or gastric derangement. This insuscepti- 

 bility of horses to the action of tartar emetic was demon- 

 strated by experiments made by Dun and Barlow : 



CASE I. On 9th September, about 10 A.M., a brown mare, unfit for 

 work on account of lameness, with the pulse 38 and respirations 7, got three 

 drachms of tartar emetic in a ball made up with treacle and linseed meal. 

 In the evening the pulse was unaffected, and the dose was repeated. 



IQth. The pulse was 40, the respirations 7, appetite good, bowels and 

 kidneys regular. A dose of four drachms was given morning and evening. 



llth. At 10 A.M. the pulse was 42, respirations 7, appetite and bowels 

 quite normal. Got an ounce in a ball as before. In the evening the pulse 

 was 40, no perceptible nausea, appetite good, bowels and kidneys regular. 

 Dose of an ounce repeated. 



12th. In the morning the pulse was 37, somewhat weaker than yesterday, 

 but still firm. The appetite was very good, and there was no change in the 

 state of the kidneys or bowels. Got a dose of an ounce. In the evening 

 the pulse was 40, and the patient in other respects as in the morning. Gave 

 an ounce, being five ounces 6 drachms in four days. 



13th. At 10 A.M. the pulse was 35, the appetite good, and the bowels 

 and kidneys normal. About 1 A.M. the animal had dropped or lain down, 

 and while lying the pulse was somewhat irregular, varying between 60 and 

 70. The respirations were quiet. At 12 the animal was lifted, when the 

 pulse fell in a few minutes to 55, and the respirations to 6. The appetite 



