448 POISONING OF SHEEP-DOGS WITH STRYCHNINE. 
the greater portion is for the time hindered from being 
absorbed; so that unless a large dose has been partaken of, a 
fatal amount may not be absorbed for hours. Now, con- 
sidering that the stomach of the deceased dog was well filled 
with food, and that its contents were not at all in a digested 
condition, I am inclined to assume, that three grains of 
strychnine would be required to kill an animal in the presence 
of so much food, and in such a short time as to anticipate 
the digestion of the meal. This opinion is much strengthened 
by the fact, that the colour and taste tests were unusually 
distinct and decided. Granting, then, that the portion of 
rabbit partaken of by the dog contained three grains of 
strychnine, it will follow that were the whole rabbit dressed 
in the same way, between twenty and thirty grains of that 
poison was employed in preparing this one rabbit. Now, it 
should be distinctly observed that such a quantity of strych- 
nine could not have been absorbed into the muscular system 
of the rabbit through its stomach, because experiments con- 
ducted by myself, and detailed on previous occasions, have 
demonstrated that the quantity of strychnine so absorbed is 
very minute, and that it is not present in such amount as to 
be poisonous. The rabbit had undoubtedly been dressed for 
the purpose of destroying animal life ; for, independently of 
the large amount of strychnine, there were no stomach, 
intestines, head, skin, hair or claws, attached to the muscle of 
the rabbit, and neither were any detected in the stomach of the 
dog. Hence it follows that the rabbit must have been killed, 
divested of its skin, head, and viscera, and thereafter 
strychnine, in some form or other, liberally powdered over 
the carcase, or placed in incisions made in the muscular 
tissue. 
Since communicating the preceding statement to the 
Society, I have been engaged in the examination of other 
cases of a similar nature which occurred in the neighbourhood 
of Dunse and elsewhere. Each new instance but strengthens 
the fact, that every now and again strychnine, either pure or 
as nux vomica , is purchased and used by the pound for the 
purpose of saturating the carcases of rabbits, lambs, &c., with 
the avowed design of strewing these baits over land for the 
destruction of vermin, but which are unfortunately open to 
the thoughtless incursions of valuable sheep-dogs, and even 
human beings . — Pharmaceutical Journal, 
