236 VEGETABLE POISONS. 



% Experiments with Poisons applied to wounded surfaces. 



Essential oil of almonds. 



Exp. 1 6. I made an incision in the thigh of a rabbit, and intro- 

 duced two drops of essential oil between the skin and the muscles. 

 In four minutes after the application, he was seized with violent 

 convulsions, and became insensible, and in two minutes more he 

 was apparently dead ; but the heart was felt through the ribs acting 

 one hundred and twenty times in a minute, and it continued acting 

 for several minutes. There were no other appearances in the limb 

 than would have resulted from an ordinary wound. 



Exp. 17. Two drops of the essential oil of almonds were intro- 

 duced into a wound in the side of a mouse. Two minutes after- 

 wards he was affected with symptoms similar to those which occur- 

 red in the last experiment, and in two minutes more he was appa- 

 rently dead, but the heart continued to contract for some minutes 

 afterwards. 



From the experiments which I have just related, and from others 

 which it appears unnecessary to detail, as the general results were 

 the same, I have learned that where the essential oil of almonds is 

 applied to a wound, its effects are not so instantaneous as when it is 

 applied to the tongue; otherwise there is no difference in its effects, 

 in whatever manner it is applied. 



Juice of the leaves of aconite. 



Exp. 18. I made a wound in the side of a young rabbit, and 

 introduced, between the skin and muscles, about twenty drops of 

 the juice of aconite. Twenty-three minutes afterwards he was 

 affected with symptoms in all essential respects similar to those 

 which occurred in an experiment already related, where the juice 

 was injected into the rectum, and at the end of forty-seven minutes 

 from the application of the poison he was apparently dead. Two 

 minutes after apparent death, the heart was found contracting, but 

 very feebly. 



Woorara. 



The woorara is a poison with which the Indians of Guiana arm 



