VEGETABLE POISONS. 237 



the points of their arrows. It appears not to differ essentially from 

 the ticunis, which was employed in the experiments of the Abbe 

 Fontana. 



Exp. 19. A small quantity of the woorara in powder was ap- 

 plied to the wound in the side of a Guinea pig. Ten minutes after- 

 wards the animal was unable to walk; then he became quite 

 motionless, except some slight occasional convulsions. He gradu- 

 ally became insensible 3 the respirations were laboured, and at the 

 end of fourteen minutes from the application of the poison the 

 respiration had entirely ceased, and he was apparently dead ; but 

 on opening the thorax, the heart was found acting seventy times 

 in a minute, circulating dark-coloured blood, and it continued to 

 contract for several minutes afterwards. On dissection no preter- 

 natural appearances were observed in the brain, nor was there any 

 other appearance in the limb than would have arisen from an ordi- 

 nary wound. 



Exp. 20.- I made a wound in the side of a Guinea pig, and 

 introduced into it about two grains of the woorara in powder. At 

 the end of twenty-five minutes, symptoms took place very similar 

 to those which occurred in the last experiment, and in thirteen mi- 

 nutes more the animal was apparently dead ; but the heart conti- 

 nued to contract one hundred and eight times in a minute, and by 

 means of artificial respiration the circulation was kept up for more 

 than twenty minutes. 



The results of other experiments which I have made with the 

 woorara were similar to those just described. The heart continued 

 to act after apparent death, and the circulation might be kept up 

 by means of artificial respiration. It is evident that this poison 

 acts in some way or other on the brain, and that the cessation of 

 the functions of this organ is the immediate cause of death. 



I found in these experiments, that the best mode of applying 

 the woorara is when it is dissolved in water to the consistence of a 

 thin paste. I first made the wound, and then smeared the poison 

 over it with the end of the scalpel. I found that the animal was 

 more speedily and certainly affected if there was some haemorrhage, 

 unless the haemorrhage was very copious, when it produced an op- 

 posite effect, by washing the poison away from the wound. When 

 the poison was applied in large quantity, it sometimes began to act 



