VEGETABLE POISONS. 45 



apparently dead. Two minutes afterwards the 

 heart was found acting 80 times in a minute. 

 On~ dissection, no preternatural appearances were 

 found either in the internal membrane of the 

 rectum, or in the brain. 



The symptoms produced by this poison, and 

 the circumstance of the heart continuing to con- 



o 



tract after apparent death, lead to the conclusion 

 that it occasions death by disturbing the func- 

 tions of the brain. 



While engaged in these last experiments, I 

 dipped the blunt end of a probe into the essential 

 oil, and applied it to my tongue, meaning to taste 

 it, and having no suspicion that so small a quan- 

 tity could produce any of its specific effects on 

 the nervous system ; but scarcely had I applied 

 it, when I experienced a very remarkable and 

 unpleasant sensation, which I referred chiefly to 

 the epigastric region, but the exact nature of 

 which I cannot describe, because I know nothing 

 precisely similar to it. At the same time there 

 was a sense of weakness in my limbs, as if I had 

 not the command of my muscles, and I thought 

 that I was about to fall. However, these sen- 

 sations were momentary, and I experienced no 

 inconvenience whatever afterwards. 



I afterwards applied a more minute quantity 

 of the essential oil to my tongne several times, 

 without experiencing from it any disagreeable 

 effects ; but on applying a larger quantity, I was 

 affected with the same momentary sensations as 

 in the former instance, and there was a recur- 



