176 CANINE MEDICINE AND SURGERY 



hand, the mortality is high on account of the masi:- 

 ive doses employed. 



The length of time which elapses before symp- 

 toms of poisoning appear after the ingestion of 

 toxic quantities of strychnin varies considerably, 

 depending on the nature and amount of food in the 

 stomach. Absorption is retarded by a full stomach 

 and by food stuffs of a fatty nature. The author 

 has records of a case in which this delayed ab- 

 sorption is well illustrated. The patient on her 

 return home was given a bowl of milk, after which 

 she was under continual observation until the symp- 

 toms of strychnin poisoning developed, a period of 

 four hours. The dose in this instance must have 

 been a: large one, as the bitch was saved only by 

 heroic doses of H-M-C, being kept narcotized for 

 twenty-four hours. 



Symptoms. — Uneasiness, an anxious expression, 

 and panting, followed by acute tetanic spasms at 

 varying intervals, are indications of strychnin 

 poisoning. The spasms afifect the whole body, the 

 limbs become stiffened, and the animal, unable 

 to stand, falls to the ground. The jaws are in a 

 state of trismus, the lips being drawn back, espe- 

 cially at the commissures, producing the character- 

 istic risus sardbnicus. The spine is curved (lordosis), 

 inspiration, is labored, and the mucous membranes 

 are cyanotic. The eyes are prominent, the pupils 

 dilated, the heart action tumultuous, and the pulse 

 small and' quick, but the artery full and hard. 

 After the spasm the muscles relax and the fore- 

 going symptoms abate until another paroxysm sets 

 in, and these become more and more frequent, with 

 shorter intervals, until ultimately the patient dies 

 from asphyxia during one of the convulsions. 



Treatment. — Immediately an emetic of 1-10 to 

 1-20 grain of apomorphin hydrochlorid should be 



