VEGETABLE POISONS. 2<27 



from (lie state of insensibility until forty minutes had elapsed from 

 the time of the injection. 



Exp. 3. Seven drachms of proof spirits were injected into the 

 stomach ot a young rabbit. Two minutes afterwards, he was evi- 

 dently affected by the spirits, and in three minutes more he lay on 

 one side motionless and insensible. The pupils of the eyes were 

 perfectly dilated; there were occasional slight convulsive motions of 

 the extremities; the respiration was laborious, it was gradually per- 

 formed at longer and longer intervals, and at the end of an hour 

 and fifteen minutes had entirely ceased. Two minutes after the 

 animal was apparently dead, 1 opened into the thorax, and found 

 the heart actiug with modem'' force and frequency, circulating 

 dark-coloured blood. I introduced a tube into the trachea, and 

 produced artificial respiration by inflating the lungs, and found 

 that by these means the action of the heart might be kept up to 

 the natural standard, as in an animal from whom the head is re- 

 moved. 



Exp. 4. I injected into the stomach of a rabbit two ounces of 

 proof spirits. The injection was scarcely completed, when the ani- 

 mal became perfectly insensible. Precisely the same symptoms took 

 place as in the last experiment, and at the end of twenty-seven mi- 

 nutes, from the time of the injection, the rabbit was apparently 

 dead; but on examining the thorax the heart was found still acting, 

 as in the last experiment. 



It has been shown by M. Bichat, and the observation has been 

 confirmed by some experiments which I have lately had the ho- 

 nour of communicating, that the brain is not directly necessary 

 to the action of the heart, and that when the functions of the 

 brain are destroyed, the heart continues to contract for some 

 time afterwards, and then ceases only in. consequence of the 

 suspension of respiration, which is under the influence of the 

 brain. 



It would appear, from the experiments which I have just detail- 

 ed, that the symptoms produced by a large quantity of spirits taken 

 into the stomach arise entirely from disturbance of the functions 

 of the brain. The complete insensibility to external impressions; 

 the dilatation of the pupils of the eyes; and the loss of motion, 

 indicate that the functions of this organ are suspended ; respiration, 

 which is under its influence, is ill performed, and at last altogether 



Q2 



