VEGETABLE POISONS. 65 



After death, I dissected the thoracic duct with 

 great care, and found it to have been perfectly 

 secured by the ligature. It was very much dis- 

 tended with chyle, and about two inches below 

 its termination its tunicks had given way, and 

 chyle was extravasated into the cellular mem- 

 brane. The lymphatic vessels in the left axilla 

 were distended in a very remarkable degree, and 

 on dividing them, not less than a drachm of 

 lymph issued from the divided ends. 



Since neither the division of the nerves, nor 

 the obstruction of the thoracic duct interfere in 

 the slightest degree with the effects of the 

 woorara, there was presumptive evidence that it 

 acts on the brain by entering the circulation 

 through the divided veins. I next endeavoured 

 to ascertain, by a more direct experiment, whether 

 this is really the case. 



To apply ligatures to the large vessels of a 

 limb only, would evidently lead to no satisfactory 

 conclusion, since the anastomosing vessels might 

 still carry on the circulation. The only method, 

 which I could devise, of obtaining the desired 

 information, was to include all the vessels, small 

 as well as large, in a ligature. 



EXPERIMENT XXVII. 



In order to make the experiment more satis- 

 factorily, I exposed the sciatic nerve of a rabbit 

 in the upper and posterior part of the thigh, and 

 passed under it a tape half an inch wide. I then 



