ACTION OF VEGETABLE POISONS. ^Ql 



Exp. 28. I repeated the last experiment with this differ- Experiment's, 

 encc, that after having applied the poison, I made the liga- 

 ture as tight as I could draw it. I removed the ligature at 

 the end cf an hour and twenty minutes, but the animal was 

 not at all aifectcd cither before or after the removal of the 

 ligature, and on the following day he had recovered the use 

 of the limb. 



Exp. 29. I repeated the experiment a third time, drawing Experiment 29, 

 the ligature very tight. At the end of forty-five minutes, 

 the animal continued perfectly well, and the ligature was 

 removed. I watched him for three quarters of an houv 

 afterward, but there were no symptoms of his being affected 

 by the poison. On the following day the rabbit died, but 

 this I attribute to the injury done to the limb and sciatic 

 nerve by the ligature, as there was the appearance of in- 

 flammation in the parts in the neighbourhood of the ligature. 



These three experiments were made with the greatest care. All confirm the 



From the mode, in which the poison was applied, from the*''""'^"' ^^^^ 

 ' ^ ^ 1*7 tfjg poison 



quantity employed, and from my prior experience, I should enters iheveins. 

 have entertained not the smallest doubt of the poison taking 

 effect in every instance in less than twenty minutes, if no 

 ligature had been applied. In two of the three, the quan- 

 tity of woorara was more than had been used in any former 

 experiments. 



I have not judged it necessary to make any more expcri- AbbeFontana's 

 ments, with the ligature on the limb: because the numerous experiments 



' ° ^ , support the 



experiments of the Abbe Fontana on the ticunas coincide same conclu- 

 in their results with those, -which have just been detailed, ^'°"» 

 and fully establish the efficacy of the ligature, in pre- 

 venting the action of the poison. It is not to be wondered 

 at, that the ligature should sometimes fail in its effects; 

 since these must evidently depend on the degree, in which 

 ikR circulation is obstructed, and on the length of time 

 during which the obstruction is continued. 



There can be little doubt, that the woorara affects the 

 brain, by passing into the circulation through the divided 

 vessels. It is probable, that it does not produce its effects, 

 Tintil it enters the substance of the brain, along with the 

 blood, in Avhich it is dissolved; nor will the experiments of even where 

 the Abbe Fontana, in which he found the ticunas protluce;.J^y^^PJ^2''JJ; 



almost 



