INTOXICATION. 93 



off, and not seldom having tremendous fights. Native 

 hunters fear to approach them when in this state,' because, 

 no doubt, of their irritability and pugnacity. The fruit in 

 question is capable of yielding ' a strong intoxicating drink ' 

 to the natives (Drummond) . 



Humble bees become intoxicated by the nectar of the 

 passion-flower, for which they have a fondness ( to excess.' 

 It produces on them the same sort of effects that alcohol 

 does on other animals, including joviality, recklessness, reel- 

 ing, tumbling, sprawling, and stupidity (Kirby and Spence). 

 That their inebriety is attended with gratification, and that 

 it is, frequently at least, intentional, is apparently shown by 

 the repetition of the act of self-intoxication. 



On the other hand, drunkenness has been artificially 

 produced by man by the use of absinthe. For instance, when 

 Dr. Magnan of Paris, before the British Medical Association 

 at Norwich in 1874, injected it into the femoral vein of a 

 dog, the animal became dead drunk.' Fowls have also 

 been made the subject of man's experiments with absinthe, 

 by giving it by mouth, and in this, as in many other ways, 

 the animals have acquired man's pernicious habit of dram- 

 drinking. Of a cock that had a liking for this liqueur we 

 are told that after a dose he ' falls as if lifeless, and lies 

 motionless on the ground. After some moments .... he 

 tries to get up, but fails, and falls back, beating the air 

 with his wings and scraping the soil .... Yet he goes on 

 repeating the dose, just as though he were as stupid as a 



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