29^ ACTION OF VEGETABLE POISONS. 



■sons only. Of tbil^e I have selected such, as are very active 

 and certain in prod ucintr their effects, bcVuviucj that, oii this 

 account, the exact nature of those effects would be more 

 readily ascertained. The principal objects, which I have 

 kept in vievr, have been to determine, on which of the vital 

 organs the poison en)ployed exercises its primary in- 

 fluence, and through what medium that organ becomes 

 affected. I have also endeavoured to ascertain V)y what 

 means the fatal consequences of some poisons may bg pre- 

 vented. With some of the conclusions, which I have ven-p 

 tured to draw, so far as I know, we were not before aCf 

 quainted ; and others of them, though not entirely new, had 

 not been previously established by satisfactory expe- 

 riments. 

 1st applied to } shall relate first those experiments, in which poisons 

 tak^iUhter- ""^ ^'*^''^ applied internally, that is to the mucous membranes of 

 r.ally. the tongue or alimentary canal, and afterward t^hose, in 



which poisons were applied to wounded surfaces. 



II. Experiments with Poisons applied to the Tovgne or ali- 

 rnentari/ Canal. 



Experiments with Alcohol. 



Effects of When spirits are taken into the stomach, in a certain 



aicohul. quantity, they produce that kind of delirium, which consti- 



tutes intoy.ication : when taken in a larger quantity, it is 

 well known, that they destroy life i^ltogether, and this iu the 

 course of a very short space of time. Intoxication is a 

 derangement of the function^ of the mind ; and, as these are 

 in some way connected with those of the brain, it seems 

 probable, that it js by acting on this organ, that spirits, 

 when taken into the stomacli, occasion death, in order to 

 ascertain how far this conclusion is just, 1 made the follow- 

 ing experiments*. 



* T am indebted to Dr. E. N. Bancroft for his assistance in m;uiy of 

 til • exi)eriirients, which I am ar.out to detail, Mr W, Brande letu me 

 his assistance ii; the greater part of those which were made. I have 

 been faither jtisisted by Mr. Brougliton, Mr. R. Rawlins, and Mr. R. 

 Gatcombe, and by several other genilemexi. 



Experiment 



