172 THE LAND-MARKS OF 



dilated and fixed * * * * There is some- 

 akXJiism. times profound coma (Dr. Taylor). This is what 

 Blyth says upon the subject : — " Symptoms. — In 

 the case of rapid poisoning by a large dose of 

 alcohol, which alone concerns as the preliminary 

 and too familiar excitement of the drunkard, 

 may be hardly observable ; but the second stage, 

 that of depression, rapidly sets in ; the unhappy 

 victim sinks down to the ground helpless, the 

 face pale, the eyes injected and staring, the pu- 

 pils dilated, acting sluggishly to light, and the 

 skin remarkably cold." 



The Inevitable Compare these symptoms with those given 

 after com- by the gentlemen who undertook to cham- 



parison, 



pion Dr. Halford's cause. Also with those of the 

 cases of supposed snake-poisoning in which al- 

 cohol — sometimes in enormous doses — had been 

 administered, and you must inevitably arrive at 

 the conclusion that cases of dixmkenness were 

 being treated, and not cases of snake-poisoning. 

 It is invariably stated in the fatal cases that the 

 higher sensorium has remained unaffected, 

 while in the cases of recovery, stupor and coma 

 were never absent. I endeavoured, as forcibly 

 as possible, to bring home to those gentlemen 

 who were advocating this line of treatment 



