VEGETABLE POISONS. 53 



states of the nervous system which accompany 

 the passions of joy, fear, or anger, when exist- 

 ing in a moderate degree, have the effect of 

 increasing the frequency of the contractions of 

 the heart, and the rapidity of the circulation, 

 while the same passions, if they exist in a greater 

 degree, produce the contrary effect, so that 

 syncope ensues. 



EXPERIMENTS WITH THE EMPYREUMATIC OIL OF TOBACCO.* 

 EXPERIMENT XIII. 



Less than a drop of this oil was applied to the 

 tongue of a young cat. Instantly violent con- 

 vulsions took place in all the muscles, and the 

 respirations became very frequent. In five 

 minutes after the application, she lay on one 

 side insensible, with slight spasmodic actions of 

 the muscles. At the end of 11 minutes she 

 retched, but did not vomit. In a quarter of an 

 hour she appeared to be recovering. I repeated 

 the application of the poison, and she was again 

 seized with violent convulsions, and became in- 

 sensible, breathing at long intervals, and in two 



* I was furnished with the empyreumatic oil of tobacco 

 by Mr. W. Brande. It may be produced by subjecting the 

 leaves of tobacco to distillation in a heat above that of boil- 

 ing water. A watery fluid comes over, on the surface of 

 which is the oil appearing as a thin film of unctuous sub- 

 stance. 



E 3 



