Absolution. 185 



reach this place the salt had to pass through the sublingual, 

 parotid, pharyngeal, and tracheal lymphatic glands. The 

 rapidity of cellular tissue absorption is hastened by muscular 

 movement. 



Absorption from the Conjunctiva is very pronounced for 

 some drugs and certain organic poisons, but there are other 

 drugs and poisons which are not absorbed in this manner. 

 Cut-are is not absorbed through the conjunctiva, and Colin 

 could not infect horses with anthrax by placing anthracoid 

 blood and fluids in the conjunctival sac. 



Absorption by the Skin is slow, even for those drugs 

 which will pass through it, and there are many organic and 

 inorganic substances which refuse to pass through the un- 

 broken epidermis. Colin kept the lumbar region of a horse 

 wet for 5 hours with a solution of ferrocyanide of potas- 

 sium. The salt was detected in the urine in 4^ hours, 

 although the skin was quite unbroken. From a wound or 

 abraded surface absorption will occur rapidly with some 

 agents, slowly with others. The above observer placed a 

 horse's foot, with a wound on the coronet, in a solution of 

 ferrocyanide of potassium ; in 20 minutes he detected the 

 salt in a lymphatic of the thigh. In connection with 

 absorption from a wounded surface, he found that the 

 poison was taken up quite as readily by the lymphatics as 

 by the bloodvessels. The mucous membrane of the vagina 

 only absorbs very slowly. 



Experiments made on Absorption from the Pleural and 

 Peritoneal Cavities showed that such drugs as strychnine 

 rapidly produced fatal symptoms when injected into these 

 sacs ; even in such a short time as from 3 to 7 minutes 

 tetanic symptoms supervened. Potassium iodide injected 

 into the peritoneal cavity of a sheep was detected in the 

 thoracic duct 5 to 8 minutes after the operation. When 

 we consider the numerous connections these large lymphatic 

 spaces have with the lymphatic system, the rapidity of 

 absorption cannot be wondered at. 



Some colouring matters are readily absorbed by serous 

 membranes. 



