1878.] the Poisonous Principle of Ureckites Suberecta. 331 



moved sluggishly. Now and then a slight convulsive movement of the 

 body aud limbs was seen. It became weaker and weaker, until the 

 breathing was imperceptible, and only by touch could I be certain it 

 was not dead. Urine ran from it. At a few minutes before 12 o'clock 

 it died. I did not see it die, but I had examined it about ten minutes 

 before I found it dead. There was no rigidity, but the usual enlarge- 

 ment of the pupil was very marked immediately after death, which 

 took place 49 hours after the administration of the poison. 



The bladder was found distended with urine, and the lower bowels 

 full of hard fasces. The smaller intestines were empty, but not tense 

 or contracted. The gall bladder distended with bile, and colouring 

 the stomach yellow. The lungs pink. The right side of the heart 

 gorged with dark blood, and the veins also ; the left side contained a 

 little thin red blood. The body was opened very shortly after death. 



The experiments I have detailed show the four forms of poison 

 extracted from Urechites suberecta to be practically identical in their 

 physiological action. In mice they cause muscular paralysis, respira- 

 tory difficulty, and convulsions ending in death. In cats, large and 

 moderate doses always produced vomiting, which (in the cases where 

 very speedily fatal doses were exhibited) was followed by convulsions 

 and death ; but where death was delayed, both fasces and urine were 

 evacuated, the vomiting frequently renewed, pulse and respiration 

 quickened, notably the former, and muscular paralysis gradually de- 

 veloped, the end being preceded by convulsions. Yery small doses pro- 

 duced on the first day vomiting, defecation and micturition ; the 

 vomiting persisting for several days, but the bowels becoming confined 

 and the secretion of urine apparently lessened. But perhaps the most 

 marked symptoms following the exhibition of small doses, was the 

 refusal of all food for many days, and the great disinclination .to 

 muscular exertion. Salivation was also sometimes produced by the 

 injection of very small quantities of the poison. 



In the four experiments on cats, in which but 1 J 00 gr. of the poison 

 was administered daily, there was no vomiting, indeed no visible effect 

 for many days ; then a gradual loss of appetite and general dulness, 

 succeeded by sudden convulsions, followed in a few hours by death. 

 In Experiment XIV, however, no symptoms of poisoning appeared for 

 eleven weeks, and then they preceded death by less than twenty-four 

 hours. 



The smallest quantity of the pure crystallized poison which proved 

 fatal to a cat was gr., injected subcutaneously in one dose — see 

 Experiment XX. This was equivalent to one two-and-a-half millionth 

 of the cat's weight. The next smallest fatal dose is that recorded in 

 Experiment XIII, in which eleven separate doses were administered, 

 amounting in all to gr., or one three-and-a-quarter millionth of the 

 cat's weight. In other experiments no fatal effect resulted until three 



YOL. xxvii. z 



