POISONS. 219 



should be followed by a larg-e teaspoonful of mustard, to give 

 a reasonable chance of success. 



Angustura pseudo ferruginaa.—P^ false species of angus- 

 tura has entered into the shops of many druggists, and has 

 occasioned considerable mischief. Some years ago, I unfor- 

 tunately destroyed a very favourite dog by giving him, as a 

 tonic remedy, this spurious article, which had been furnished 

 me by my druggist, as the genuine angustura bark. This 

 deleterious article, although it is decided by Humboldt to be 

 nowise related to the angustura tribe, has yet been very ge- 

 nerally diffused, and used as a substitute for the true bark *. 



Prussic acid.— In its highly concentrated state, this acid 

 (which, it is fortunate, is extremely difficult to obtain, and 

 still more so to preserve) is so active, that one, or, at the 

 most, two drops applied within the eye, nose, or on the 

 tongue, are sufficient to destroy life in a minute or two. It 

 is to the presence of this acid that many vegetable sub- 

 stances, particularly all bitter kernels, owe their deleterious 

 properties. The lauro cerasus, or cherry laurel, used in 

 cooking for the kernel-like flavour it gives, under distillation 

 yields a water that proves poisonous to dogs. The essential 

 oil of the cherry laurel, as well as that of bitter almonds, 

 are both so strongly impregnated with prussic acid, that a 

 very few drops given to the largest dog, prove immediately 

 fatal t. An extract also, made from either of these articles. 



* L. A. Planch, a French apothecary, has accurately described the 

 article in a memoir, entitled Notice Chimique sur les Angustures des 



f It is not unfrequently a subject of inquiry, how it may be possible 

 to destroy a dog with least pain to himself, and least shock to the feel- 

 ings of his owner. Although shooting and hanging are not, in them- 

 selves, painful deaths, yet the violence necessarily committed is revolt- 

 ing to one's feelings. It is both selfish and imprudent to famihanze the 

 minds of servants to these acts. Whenever, therefore, cases arise (and 

 many such do occur) where it would be infinitely more humane to destroy 

 an animal than to prolong a miserable existence ; and when the more 

 usual modes are objected to on account of the violence and force necep- 



P2 



