VOL. LXX.] PHILOSOPHICAL TRANSACTIONS. (J4g 



appearance of injury to the animal. The next day I perforated the comb and 

 the wattles with 2 arrows prepared as before, and left them there for 10 hours; 

 but still without any effect. I then perforated one of the muscles of the thigh 

 with an arrow, and the animal died in 42 minutes. 



I had proposed to myself among other things, to examine what alteration this 

 poison may undergo by uniting it with acids and with alkalis. This I had tried 

 with the poison of the viper, the noxious qualities of which neither the most 

 powerful mineral acids, nor the most active alkalis, could take away. For this 

 purpose ihen I dissolved the poison in 3 mineral acids, as also in distilled vinegar, 

 and in rum; and about an hour after I made the following experiments. I made 

 some small gashes in the skin of a small Guinea-pig, and covered it over several 

 times with the poison dissolved in the nitrous acid: the animal appe;ired to suffer 

 nothing but the mechanical inconvenience of the wound and the acid; within 

 an hour after it was as lively as ever. Two hours after I repeated the experiment 

 on another part of the skin prepared as above, which 1 covered with the poison 

 dissolved in rum; the animal died in less than 4 minutes. I slightly wounded 

 the skin of a young rabbit, and applied to it many drops of the poison dissolved 

 in oil of vitriol: it seemed to suffer nothing, and was as lively as before. Four 

 hours after I prepared another part of the skin as above, and applied to it a few- 

 drops of the poison dissolved in distilled vinegar: the animal fell down after 4 

 minutes, and was quite dead in 6. I prepared likewise the skin of another sniall 

 rabbit, and covered it with the poison dissolved in the marine acid; but the 

 animal was not affected. Six hours after I applied the poison, dissolved in rum, 

 to another part of the skin, and in 45 minutes it fell, and was convulsed; but it 

 recovered in less than 1 hour. 



From these first experiments it should seem, that mineral acids render the 

 poison innocent ; and that, on the contrary, vinegar and rum make no alteration 

 in it. I continued my experiments with the poison dissolved in vinegar and in 

 rum, but the results were somewhat various. Of 6 animals, to which was given 

 the poison dissolved in vinegar, only 2 died; 2 others were very sick, and the 

 remaining 2 were not at all affected. Of 6 others, treated in like manner, with 

 the poison dissolved in rum, 5 died; and the 6th was very sick. Hence it 

 appears, that the poison dissolved in these 2 fluids preserves its noxious quality. 



On the other hand, I repeated the experiments with the poison dissolved in 

 mineral acids on 6 animals; and not 1 of them was in the least affected. I 

 began to suspect, that the poison might fail in its effect, not because it had lost 

 its noxious quality, but because it could not insinuate itself into the wounded 

 parts, on account of the too great action of the mineral acids on the skin and 

 vessels, which they shrivel and burn up. To clear up this doubt, I evaporated by 

 heat the poison dissolved in the mineral acids, and, when it was quite dry, applied 



VOL. XIV. 4 O 



