POISONS. 217 



from the early tendency in the whole body to become putrid 

 and decomposed. The foetor that comes from the diseased 

 parts is likewise peculiar in these cases, being- more than 

 usually pung-ent and lasting" ; so much so, that 1 have distin- 

 fi-uished it three months afterwards from the instruments 

 dress, and other articles used during- the examination of the 

 body. 



VEGETABLE POISONS. 



Opium. — In the former edition of the Canine Pathology, 

 I stated that, as far as my experience went, opium was not 

 deleterious to dogs when received into the stomach; for that 

 very large doses of the solid mass were invariably returned 

 from the stomach, and that smaller, though considerable 

 quantities, produced but little derangement of the system. 

 Orfila, however, whose experience has been purchased by 

 the sacrifice of whole hecatombs of dogs, asserts that it will 

 kill, although he acknowledges (and which corroborates my 

 former remarks on it) it is so variable in its effects, that he has 

 often given very considerable doses without at all injuring 

 the animal. When it does prove fatally deleterious, the symp- 

 toms detailed by him are convulsive efforts of all the muscu- 

 lar parts, succeeded by dejection and universal paralysis. On 

 dissection, little appearance of inflammation is visible in the di- 

 gestive organs, but more of it in the lungs. Orfila likewise 

 observes (which fully agrees with my experience), that the 

 narcotic effect of opium is not apparent in the dog by any 

 dose taken into the stomach: but it is a curious fact, that 

 introduced either into the blood vessels by injection, or into 

 the intestines per ano, it exerts its narcotic influence fully. 



Vomic nut, or crow fig (^Strychnos nux vomica, Linn.) — 

 This berry, or rather seed of a berry, is a native of the East 

 Indies, and is a violent narcotic poison to many animals: to 

 others it proves not equally noxious ; but it does not appear 

 wholly innocent to any. It possesses great power, but is 

 very unequal in its action, not only on different animals, but 

 also on the same animal at different times, and under differ- 



P 



