VOL. XLVII.] PHILOSOPHICAL TRANSACTIONS. 149 



very quick to the right and left, with their mouth wide open. During this 

 scene, he perceived a spasmodic contraction in all the muscular parts of the 

 neck. 



July the 15th he pricked a hawk in the left claw : into the puncture he intro- 

 duced a small drop of the poison of ticunas mixed with that of lamas, and then 

 set the creature at liberty. From that moment it was impossible for him to fly ; 

 the most he could do was to perch on a stick, which was within 6 inches of the 

 ground. There he shook his head several times, as if to get rid of something 

 that seemed troublesome in his throat. His eyes were restless, and his feathers 

 were all bristled up. In fine, after several gapings, his head fell all at orce be- 

 tween his legs, and in 3 minutes he died thus with his wings expanded. He 

 repeated this experiment on several sorts of birds,* and they all died with pretty 

 much the same symptoms as those above-mentioned, and in as short a time. 

 He made 6 of these birds swallow a good close of sugar, before inoculating them 

 with the poison : 3 of them escaped death, but the other 3 died very soon. The 

 moment after inserting the poison into 4 other birds, he made them swallow a 

 good deal of sugar ; but that did not prevent their dying, almost as soon as those 

 that had taken none. He made other birds swallow sea-salt instead of sugar ; 

 and not one of them recovered, whether they took it before or after the appli- 

 cation of the poison. 



July the 1 6th he put a little of the same poison into a small wound he had 

 made in the right fore foot of a young rabbit. The moment this operation was 

 performed, he cut off that foot above the place of insertion of the poison. He 

 dressed the stump, and the animal did not die. Some days afterwards, he re- 

 peated this experiment on '2 large dogs, and on a lamb ; and not one of them 

 died. 



July the 20th, he made a tight ligature on the right hinder leg of a young 

 rabbit, in order to see, if he could thereby prevent the poison from penetrating 

 too quick into the mass of blood. That done, he put a drop of the poison of 

 ticunas and lamas into a small wound, which he made below the ligature : and 

 the animal died in less than 2 minutes. 



July the 22d, he poisoned the point of a sword with the same poison ; and with 

 this sword he pierced the left thigh of a large cat, which died in a minute, with- 

 out shewing any signs of suffering. 



July the 24th, after having introduced some of the same poison into little 

 wounds, made in the legs, and other parts, of several dogs, cats, foxes, and " 

 horses, he immediately applied a red-hot iron, or burning charcoal, on the 

 wounds : not one of these animals died : but this operation must be performed 

 very speedily. 



• As pigeons, hens, blackbirds^ sparrows, ducks, geese, and magpies. — Orig. ' 



