MINERAL POISONS. 101 



not affected ; but the affection of the heart and 

 brain is proved by the convulsions, the insen- 

 sibility, the affection of the pulse in both experi- 

 ments, and the sudden cessation of the heart's 

 action in the first, and we may therefore be 

 justified in concluding, that the immediate cause 

 of death was in both of these organs. As the 

 effects produced appear to have been inde- 

 pendent of absorption, we may presume that the 

 heart, as well as the brain, was acted on through 

 the medium of the nerves. 



That a sudden and violent injury of the 

 stomach should be capable of thus speedily 

 proving fatal is not surprising, when we con- 

 sider the powerful sympathy between it and the 

 organs on which life more immediately depends, 

 and the existence of which many circumstances 

 in disease daily demonstrate to us. 



VII. Conclusion. 



The facts which have been stated appear to 

 lead to the following conclusions respecting the 

 action of the mineral poisons, which were em- 

 ployed in the foregoing experiments. 



1. Arsenic, the emetic tartar, and the muriate 

 of barytes do not produce their deleterious effects 

 until they have passed into the circulation. 



2. All of these poisons occasion disorder of 

 the functions of the heart, brain, and alimentary 



