REVIEW. 
609 
wards. Proceeding in this manner, with several parts of the horse, I found 
distinct evidence of the presence of strychnine in (1) the contents of the 
stomach, (2) the muscle, (3) the blood, and (4) the urine. The latter had been 
collected in the bladder under very favorable circumstances, as the horse 
passed its urine immediately prior to the administration of the strychnine 
doses, so that the contents of the bladder experimented on by me, had all 
been secreted during the period the animal was under treatment by strych- 
nine. Whilst successful in tracing the presence of strychnine in the con- 
tents of the stomach, the muscle, the blood, and the urine of the horse, I 
have to record its non-detection in the liver, spleen, lungs, kidneys, and 
heart. Its apparent absence in these organs may be attributed to the pro- 
cess which was followed in manipulating with them. Instead of employing 
oxalic acid in the first step of the process, I substituted in its place dilute 
hydrochloric acid. This may appear a very slight alteration in the method 
pursued, but nevertheless, I believe it to be sufficient to account for the 
non-appearance of the strychnine. Indeed, experiments made on portions 
of the contents of the stomach, muscle, and blood, demonstrated, that whilst 
these, when treated with oxalic acid, yielded decided indications of strych- 
nine, yet other portions to which hydrochloric acid had been added, only 
gave the faintest signs of its presence. That strychnine was diffused through 
the portions of liver, spleen, lungs, kidneys, and heart experimented upon 
appears certain, as four weeks afterwards, by following the oxalic acid pro- 
cess, I detected its presence in those parts which had been buried. Hydro- 
chloric acid is, therefore, unserviceable in testing for strychnine in the 
animal system. Tartaric acid gives results equally successful with those 
yielded by oxalic acid, whilst acetic acid has always appeared to me trouble- 
some on the application of the colour test. In after experiments on 
strychnine poisoning, the oxalic acid process was rigidly adhered to. 
{To be continued) 
Review. 
Quid sit pulchrum, quid turpe, quid utile, quid non. — Hon. 
Thirtieth Annual Report of the Royal Society for the Pre- 
vention of Cruelty to Animals. 
Before us is lying the above Report, from which we gather 
that the progress of the Society is in accordance with the 
wishes of its patrons and supporters. And who is there 
possessing a spark of humanity within him that does not wish 
continued success to it? To the members of our profession 
it surely needs not to appeal, since we hope there is not one 
amongt us who would not heartily second its intentions and 
xxix. 78 
