Appendix. 421 



Anh'dotes.— Fresh, air, stimulants, and artificial respiration. 

 Doses.— By inhalation in admixture with air, i to 4 drachms. 



Internally as a stimulant and antispasmodic, 5 to 10 



minims. 



PRUSSIC ACID. 



This is the most deadly and instantaneous poison we come in 

 contact with, and for that reason is most frequently used for the 

 destruction of animals. 



Actions and Uses. — Fatal in doses of one to four drops, either 

 placed on the tongue, within the eyelids, or injected into the 

 jugular vein. Medicinally (diluted) it is sedative, antispasmodic, 

 and anodyne. 



"To the dog, in obstinate vomiting, two grains of the acid with 

 ten grains of carbonate of soda and one ounce of water may be 

 administered every hour. One drachm of the acid with about a 

 quart of water, employed slowly as an enema two or three times 

 a day, lessens muscular contractions in tetanus. Externally : To 

 allay pain and irritation in chronic skin affections, especially in 

 dogs, two or three drachms of the acid are mixed with a pint of 

 distilled or rain water." — -Tuion. 



Post-mortem Appearances. — " There is more or less venous con- 

 gestion. The blood in all parts of the body is fluid, of a bluish 

 appearance, and evolves the peculiar odour of the acid, which is 

 sometimes also perceptible in the contents of the stomach, and in 

 various of the secretions, especially that of the serous cavities. 

 This odour, however, can seldom be detected where life has been 

 prolonged for some time after the poison has been given. When 

 the strong acid has been administered, some experimenters find 

 that the voluntary muscles and those of the intestines lose their 

 contractility, and that the heart also loses its irritability, and 

 becomes gorged with dark grumous blood. There is, however, 

 much difference of opinion concerning the state of the heart, and 

 the appearances reported are not at all uniform. The villous coat 

 of the intestines is sometimes red, shrivelled, and easily removed, 

 and the nervous centres are usually congested." — Finlay Dun. 



Antidotes. — Cold affusion over the head and neck, bleeding in- 

 halation of ammonia or chlorine, fresh air ; hydrated peroxide of 

 iron in conjunction with an alkali, as, carbonate of potash. 



Doses — Medicinal acid, i to 3 minims. 



CARBOLIC ACID. 

 Not unfrequently dogs become poisoned either from the absorp- 



