ACTION OF VEGETABLE POISON*. 335 



tQight be employed with advantage for the recovery of per- 

 sons labouring under the effects of opiumj and many other 

 poisons. 



V. 



The experiments, which have been detailed, lead to the General cea- 

 following conclusions. elusions. 



1. Alcohol, the essential oil of almonds, the juice of 

 aconite, the empyreumatic oil of tobacco, and the woorara, 

 act as poisons by simply destroying the functions of the 

 brain; universal death taking place, because respiration is 

 tinder the influence of the brain, and ceases when its func- 

 tions are destroyed. 



2. The infusion of tobacco, when injected into the in- 

 testine, and the upas antiar, when applied to a wound, 

 have the power of rendering the heart insensible to the sti- 

 mulus of the blood, thus stopping the circulation; in other 

 words, they occasion syncope. 



3. There is reason to believe, that the poisons, which in 

 these experiments were applied internally, produce their ef- 

 fects through the medium of the nerves, without being ab- 

 sorbed into the circulation. 



4. When the woorara is applied to a wound, it produces 

 its effects on the brain, by entering the circulation through 

 the divided blood-vessels ; and, from analogy, we may con- 

 clude, that other poisons, when applied to wounds, operate 

 in a similar manner. 



6, When an animal is apparently dead from the influence 

 of a poison, which acts by simply destroying the functions 

 of the brain, it may, in some instances, at least, be made 

 to recover, if respiration is artificially produced, and con- 

 tinued for a certain length of time. 



From analogy we might draw some conclusions respect- 

 ing the mode, in which some other vegetable poisons pro- 

 duce their effects on the animal system; but I forbear to 

 enter into any speculative inquiries; as it is my wish, in 

 the present communication, to record such facts only, as 

 appear to be established by actual experiment. 



by occasioning repeated and long continued contractions of the 

 muscles of respiration, on which it acts through the medium of the 

 spinal marrow, without destroying the functions of the brain. 



III. Description 



