38 EFFECTS OF 



poison employed exercises its primary influence, 

 and through what medium that organ becomes 

 affected. .1 have also endeavoured to ascertain 

 by what means the fatal consequences of some 

 poisons may be prevented. With some of the 

 conclusions which I have ventured to draw, as 

 far as I know, we were not before acquainted ; 

 and others of them, though not entirely new, had 

 not been previously established by satisfactory 

 experiments. 



I shall relate first those experiments in which 

 poisons were applied internally, that is, to the 

 mucous membranes of the tongue or alimentary 

 canal, and afterwards those in which poisons were 

 applied to wounded surfaces. 



II. Experiments with Poisons applied to the Tongue, or 

 Alimentary Canal. 



EXPERIMENTS WITH ALCOHOL. 



When spirits are taken into the stomach, in a 

 certain quantity, they produce, not at once, but 

 gradually, that kind of delirium which constitutes 

 intoxication : when taken in a larger quantity, it 

 is well known that they destroy life altogether, 

 and that in the course of a very short space of 

 time. Intoxication is a derangement of the 

 functions of the mind, and, as these are in some 

 way connected with those of the brain, it seems 

 probable, that it is by acting on this organ, that 

 spirits, when taken into the stomach, occasion 



