VEGETABLE POISONS. 47 



found contracting regularly one hundred times 

 in a minute. 



It appears from this experiment, that the juice 

 of aconite, when injected into the intestine, occa- 

 sions death by destroying the functions of the 

 brain. From the analogy of other poisons, it is 

 rendered probable that it is capable of influencing 

 the brain through the medium of the nerves, 

 without being absorbed into the circulation. This 

 opinion is confirmed by the following circum- 

 stance: if a small quantity of the leaf of aconite 

 is chewed, it occasions a remarkable sense of 

 numbness of the lips and gums, which does not 

 subside for two or three hours. 



EXPERIMENTS WITH THE INFUSION OF TOBACCO. 

 EXPERIMENT VIII. 



Four ounces of infusion of tobacco were in- 

 jected into the rectum of a dog. Four minutes 

 afterwards he retched, but did not vomit; he 

 then became faint, and lay motionless on one 

 side ; at the end of nine minutes from the time 

 of the injection, the heart could not be felt ; 

 he gasped for breath at long intervals ; and in 

 another minute there was no appearance what- 

 ever of life. I immediately laid open the cavities 

 of the thorax and abdomen. The heart was 

 much distended, and had entirely ceased to con- 

 tract ; there was no peristaltic motion of the in- 

 testines. 



