VEGETABLE POISONS. 75 



IY. 



Further Observations and Experiments on the 

 Action of Poisons on the Animal System. 



[From the Philosophical Transactions for 1812.] 



SINCE I had the honour of communicating to the 

 Royal Society some Observations on the Action 

 of certain Poisons on the Animal System, I have 

 been engaged in the further prosecution of this 

 inquiry. Besides some additional experiments 

 on vegetable poisons, I have instituted several 

 with a view to explain the effects of some of 

 the more powerful poisons of the mineral king- 

 dom. The former correspond in their results 

 so nearly with those which are already before 

 the public, that, in the present communication, 

 I shall confine myself to those which appear 

 to be of some importance, as they confirm my 

 former conclusions respecting the recovery of 

 animals apparently dead, where the cause of 

 death operates exclusively on the nervous sys- 

 tem. In my experiments on mineral poisons, I 

 have found some circumstances wherein their 

 effects differ from those of vegetable poisons ; 

 and of these I shall give a more particular 

 account. Whatever may be the value of the 

 observations themselves, the subject must be 



