7 22 
EXTRACTS FROM A LECTURE ON STRYCHNINE. 
dentally I may notice, that these two experiments lead me to regard it as im- 
probable that one animal should be killed by eating the flesh of another 
which had been destroyed by strychnine in the ordinary way. At the same 
time, I should expect the carnivorous animal to die, provided he partook of 
such parts as the stomach, the duodenum, or even the blood. These re- 
marks apply only to the remains of animals which have been killed by the 
introduction of strychnine into the stomach, and do not refer to animals 
which, after death, have had strychnine placed in incisions made in their 
muscular system. Now, the terrier dog had for two weeks been re- 
ceiving strychnine in the minimum of minimum doses, and if the animal 
system can sensibly decompose strychnine, it ought in this instance to have 
occurred. At first, I thought of killing this animal by violence or by 
prussic acid, and thereafter examining the various organs for strychnine, 
but disappointed at the non-appearance of the physiological effects, and be- 
lieving it unlikely that strychnine could be present in appreciable amount 
without causing spasms, I unfortunately proceeded to make him the subject 
of an experiment as to the power of coniine to retard or destroy the action 
of strychnine. 
The following are the doses of strychnine and coniine administered to, 
and the effects produced on 
0 minute. 
THE TERRIER DOG. 
1 gr. strychnine, and 2 drops coniine, on liver. 
25 minutes. 
i gr. „ 1 drop „ „ 
41 
Quick motion of limbs. 
42 
33 
Spasms. 
Heavy breathings and spasms. 
48 
59 
Bepose. 
54 
33 
A gentle touch or rub occasioned no spasms. 
A smart touch gave rise to most violent spasms and 
56 
» 
heavy breathings. 
Bepose — slowly passed urine. 
59 
„ 
Heart stopped beating, and again commenced. 
Heart’s action ceased. 
3 
33 
In this instance I examined (1) the stomach and its contents, (2) the 
duodenum and its contents, (3) the smaller intestines, (4) the muscle, (5) 
the lungs, liver, heart, spleen, and kidneys, (6) the blood, (7) the bladder, 
with a mere trace of urine ; and in each separately, I detected strychnine in 
considerable amount. Now, it must be distinctly observed, that the quan- 
tity of strychnine extracted from the tissues and organs of the terrier 
dog was many times greater than that obtained by me in any other instance. 
Moreover that strychnine was likewise observed in the smaller intestines, 
where I could not find strychnine in the only other instance (the cat) in 
which I tested these separately from the duodenum. In all the cases of 
direct poisoning by strychnine which I have examined, a certain small 
amount of strychnine was discovered in the animal, and, judging from the 
amount of the colour test obtained, I should draw the conclusion that the 
quantity of strychnine lodged in the tissues of the animal was the same in 
all. But in the instance of the terrier dog, which had undergone the 
preliminary treatment of eating about 28 lb. of horse-flesh containing 
strychnine, and was thereafter poisoned by a dose of strychnine not larger 
than that given to the others, I fiud a very much larger and extra amount 
of the alkaloid. The excess of strychnine in the tissue of the terrier 
