INORGANIC POISONS. 379 



have failed to detect them in that secretion. In fact, 

 during their passage through the organism, they 

 come into contact with many substances by which 

 they are retained. 



The action of corrosive sublimate and arsenious 

 acid is very remarkable in this respect. It is known 

 that these substances possess, in an eminent degree, 

 the property of entering into combination with all 

 parts of animal and vegetable bodies, rendering them 

 at the same time insusceptible of decay or putrefac- 

 tion. Wood and cerebral substance are both bodies 

 which undergo change with great rapidity and facili- 

 ty when subject to the influence of air and water ; 

 but if they are digested for some time with arsenious 

 acid or corrosive sublimate, they may subsequently 

 be exposed to all the influences of the atmosphere 

 without altering in color or appearance. 



It is further known, that those parts of a body 

 which come in contact with these substances during 

 poisoning, and which therefore enter into combina- 

 tion with them, do not afterwards putrefy ; so that 

 there can be no doubt regarding the cause of their 

 poisonous qualities. 



It is obvious, that if arsenious acid and corrosive 

 sublimate are not prevented by the vital principle 

 from entering into combination with the component 

 parts of the body, and consequently from rendering 

 them incapable of decay and putrefaction, they must 

 deprive the organs of the principal property which 

 appertains to their vital condition, viz. that of suffer- 

 ing and effecting transformations ; or, in other words, 

 organic life must be destroyed. If the poisoning is 

 merely superficial, and the quantity of the poison so 

 small that only individual parts of the body which 

 are capable of being regenerated have entered, into 

 combination with it, then eschars are produced, — a 

 phenomenon of a secondary kind, — the compounds 

 of the dead tissues with the poison being thrown off 

 by the healthy parts. From these considerations it 

 may readily be inferred, that all internal signs of 



