VEGETABLE POISONS, 243 



essential oil of almonds, the juice of aconite, the oil of tobacco, and 

 the woorara, occasion death simply by destroying the functions of 

 the brain. The following experiment appears fully to establish the 

 truth of this conclusion. 



Exp. 30, The temperature of the room being 58 degrees of 

 Fahrenheit's thermometer, I made two wounds in the side of a 

 rabbit, and applied to them some of the woorara in the form of 

 paste. In seven minutes after the application, the hind legs were 

 paralysed, and in fifteen minutes respiration had ceased, and he was 

 apparently dead. Two minutes afterwards the heart was still-beat" 

 ing, and a tube was introduced through an opening into the trachea, 

 by means of which the lungs were inflated. The artificial respira- 

 tion was made regularly about thirty-six times a minute. 



At first, the heart contracted one hundred times in a minute. 



At the end of forty minutes, the pulse had risen t<5 one hundred 

 and twenty in a minute. 



At the end of an hour, it had risen to one hundred and forty in 

 a minute. 



At the end of an hour and twenty-three minutes, the pulse had 

 fallen to a hundred, and the artificial respiration was discontinued. 



At the commencement of the experiment, the ball of a thermo- 

 meter being placed in the rectum, the quicksilver rose to one hun- 

 dred degrees; at the close of the experiment it had fallen to eighty, 

 eight and a half. 



During the continuance of the artificial respiration, the blood in 

 the femoral artery was of a florid red, and that in the femoral vein 

 of a dark colour, as usual. 



It has been observed by M. Bichat, that the immediate cause of 

 death, when it takes place suddenly, must be the cessation of the 

 functions of the heart, the brain, or the lungs. This observation 

 may be extended to death under all circumstances. The stomach, 

 the liver, the kidneys, and many other organs, are necessary to life, 

 but their constant action is not necessary ; and the cessation of their 

 functions cannot therefore be the immediate cause of death. As in 

 this case the action of the heart had never ceased ; as the circula- 

 tion of the blood was kept up by artificial respiration for more than 

 an hour and twenty minutes after the poison had produced its full 

 effects ; and as during this time the usual changes in the colour of 

 the blood took place in the lungs ; it is evident that the functions of 



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