82 EFFECTS OF 



state is necessary for the maintenance of the 

 functions of the vital organs. The next object 

 of inquiry therefore is, when arsenic has entered 

 the circulation, on what organs does it operate so 

 as to occasion death ? 



When arsenic is applied to an ulcerated sur- 

 face, it produces a slough, not by acting chemi- 

 cally, like caustics in general, but by destroying 

 the vitality of the part to which it is applied, 

 independently of chemical action. This led me 

 at first to suppose that, when arsenic has passed 

 into the circulation, death is the consequence, 

 not so much of the poison disturbing the func- 

 tions of any particular organ, as of its destroying 

 at once the vitality of every part of the system. 

 The following circumstances, however, seem to 

 show that this opinion is erroneous. In an 

 animal under the full influence of arsenic, even 

 to the instant of death, some of the secretions, 

 as those of the kidneys, stomach, and intestines, 

 continue to take place in large quantity; and 

 the muscles are capable of being excited, after 

 death, to distinct and powerful contractions by 

 means of the Voltaic battery. 



EXPERIMENT III. 



Seven grains of the white oxyde of arsenic 

 were applied to a wound in the back of a rabbit. 



In a few minutes he was languid, and the 

 respirations were small and frequent. The pulse 

 was feeble, and after a little time could not be 



