VETERINARY SCHOOL AT ALFORT. 
159 
in the canal, and becomes imbibed by, and incorporated with, the 
alimentary mass contained in the large reservoirs. But, although 
less dangerous when thus administered, there are good and suffi- 
cient reasons why emetic tartar should not be given immediately 
after a meal ; for, leaving out of all question the disorders which 
it sometimes produces in the digestive functions, the violent con- 
traction of the muscular coat which it is capable of creating, either 
by direct contact or by absorption, is, in some cases, — not often 
met with, it is true, — the cause of rupture of the intestinal walls, 
where the mass upon which they contract is too hard, and opposes 
an insurmountable degree of resistance. 
When tartarised antimony is administered in doses of 60, 80, 
100, or 120 grammes, its local action, if it remains medicinal, — for it 
is capable of becoming and does often become poisonous, especially 
in the extreme cases which we have pointed out, — its effect in 
these doses is that of a violent purgative, if we may judge by an 
abundant diarrhoeal fluxion which comes on after a lapse of from 
twelve to fifteen hours. These results are, however, far from cer- 
tain, quite the contrary, tartar emetic being one of those drugs on 
the purgative effects of which no reliance can be placed : indeed, 
so great is its inconstancy, that sometimes it has to be administered 
in daily increasing doses, even until the enormous quantity of 200 
grammes is reached before purgation can be produced. 
It must be understood that such test can only be undertaken ex- 
perimentally. If the emetic is uniform as a medicine, it is equally 
so as a poison ; and the accidents occasionally produced by mode- 
rate doses of it ought to put us upon our guard against it ; the 
more especially when we come to these enormous doses, which, 
although borne with perfect impunity, are not devoid of risk, from 
the fatal effects they occasionally entail. 
The symptoms which characterise the action of this drug upon 
the digestive canal are, — dulness, loss of appetite, dryness of the 
mouth, occasional attempts at regurgitation, continued borborygma ; 
pain in the abdomen, testified by stamping the hind legs ; the head 
turned towards the flanks; continuous and rather violent colic ; and, 
lastly, the condition of the excrement, which at first is dry, then 
moist, and covered with a thick coating of mucus, and at last ex- 
pelled in a fluid state, in great abundance and at close intervals. 
When the emetic is productive of poisonous effects, the dulness 
is much greater : the animal moves like an automaton, its gait being 
uncertain and tottering ; the whole body is agitated by shivers, and 
sometimes even by tetanic convulsions, the head being in con- 
tinual motion. The decubitus is often interrupted by violent and 
spasmodic colic : sometimes the animal rushes against the wall, as 
