ACTION OP rOISONS ON THE ANIMAL SY STEM. 26 1 



from which the brain has been removed for a considerable. The circula- 

 but not for an unlimited, time. We may conclude, that in the be\""°°^ 

 last of these experiments the animal did not recover, because above a'crr'^ 

 the influence of the poison ccfntinued beyond the time during ^^'"j™^'*.'''^- 

 which the circulation may be maintained without the brain. °"^ ' '^ ^"'"' 



///. On the Effects of Arsenic. 

 When an animal is killed by arsenic taken internally, the Two opinion* 

 stomach is found bearing marks of inflammation ; and it is a "^ ^^f effect of 

 very general opinion, 1, that this inflammation is the cause of^""""* 

 death : 2, that it is the consequence of the actual contact of 

 the arsenic with the internal coat of the stomach. But in se- Death is not 



veral cases I have found the inflammation of the stomach so ^''^ ^^*"'^°^ 

 !• 1 , .1 , ^ . , innammation 



Slight, that on a superficial examination it might have been of the sto- 



casily overlooked ; and in most of my experiments with this "^"'^• 



poison death has taken place in too short a time for it to be 



considered as the result of inflammation : and hence we may 



conclude, that the first of these opinions is incorrect j at least as 



a general proposition. 



Many circumstances conspire to show, that the second of The inflam- 



these opinions also is unfounded. ' "'^^'°" ^^""^ 



^ exists not caus« 



In whatever way the poison is administered, the inflamma- ed by the con- 



tion is confined to the stomach and intestines— -I have never ^*" °^ ^^^ *""" 



seme, 

 seen any appearance of it in the pharynx or oesophagus. 



Mr. Home informed me, that in an experiment made by If applied to a 



Mr. Hunter and himself, in which arsenic was applied to a ^^^''^"i'*^^^'"- 



'^'^ macli becomes 



wound m a dog, the animal died in twenty-four hours, and the inflamed. 



stomach was found to be considerably inflamed. 



I repeated this experiment several times, taking the pre- 

 caution always of applying a bandage, to prevent the animal 

 licking the wound. The result was, that the inflammation of 

 the stomach was commonly more violent and more immediate, 

 than when the poison was administered internally, and that 

 it preceded any appearance of inflammation of the wound*. 



Some 



* Since the greater part of my experiments on this subject were made, Dr. Jaeger of 

 I have seen an account of an inaugural dissertation on the effects of the same opi- 

 arsenic, by Dr. Jaeger of Stuttgard. Dr. Jaeger has come to conclu- nion with the 



• •/ , f_ , 1. • • 1 1 11 J L • author, 



sions similar to those above stated, that m an animal killed by arsenic, 



the inflammation of the stomach i« not the cause of death, and that the 



poison 



