OEGANIC POISONS AND DEUGS 111 



backwards on its side in a circle. The spaSm is followed by a 

 period of quiescence. If relieved by tobacco there is recovery. 



Cattle withstand relatively large doses. Thus Macgilli- 

 vray, quoted by Finlay Dun,* gave an old cow in all 90 grains 

 in solution, and this induced a few spasmodic tremors, 

 which lasted about twenty minutes. Dun (loc. cit.) gave 

 a small red cow, affected with pleuro-pneumonia, in all 

 47 grains within two hours and a quarter. The pulse rose 

 to 160 ; the symptoms were quickly induced, and included 

 nausea, attempts to vomit, laboured breathing, and the 

 typical tetanic rigidity. 



Dogs become very uneasy, whine, are nauseated, and 

 often vomit. This is an important point, and emphasis 

 must be laid on the fact that vomiting does not always 

 save the patient. The rectal temperature rises 2° to 4° F., 

 and general tetanic spasms occur with increasing violence 

 at intervals of one, two, or more minutes, until death, 

 which is rapid after the first onset of symptoms. 



As to differential diagnosis, it may be recalled that 

 strychnine spasms are clonic, whereas those of tetanus are 

 tonic. But tetanus in the dog is very rare, whilst strychnine 

 poisoning is very common. 



Post-MoFtera Appearances. — These are the appearances 

 of asphyxia, the venous blood being dark and fluid, lungs 

 and cerebral meninges engorged. The left heart is often 

 firmly contracted and nearly empty. Very rarely, and in 

 protracted cases, the intestines may show a little patchy con- 

 gestion. The rigor mortis is a post-mortem appearance often 

 held to be very characteristic, but its absence is not to be 

 taken as a decisively negative sign. The feet, or the claws 

 of birds, are generally incurved, and the muscles of the 

 jaws are rigid. In one of the best observed cases, quoted 

 by Taylor from the observations of Caspar of Berlin, the 

 corpse was described as like a thousand others. The dura- 

 tion of rigor mortis among dogs is certainly not invariably 

 more prolonged in consequence of strychnine poisoning. 

 It may pass off within twelve hours. 



* ' Veterinary Medicines,' 1910, p. 506. 



