SOURCE AND ACTION OF WOORARA POISON. 459 
Generally, consciousness was lost first, and muscular power 
last. 
Dr. Crisp said it was a question how long a serpent’s 
poison would retain its virulence ; and he was about to test 
that point by some poison which he took from a rattlesnake 
three years ago. He did not think that experiments with 
the poison upon reptiles were altogether satisfactory ; as 
those animals were not, he believed, so susceptible to animal 
poison as mammals. He had introduced by puncture the 
poison of a viper into the mouth of a common snake, a frog, 
and a toad, without any effect ; and he had also caused a 
hornet to sting a frog, a toad, and a common lizard, with- 
out producing any apparent result. 
Dr. Richardson said, that in the experiments of Mr. Walton 
and others, the poison had produced profound insensibility. 
The heart, also, continued to beat after respiration had 
ceased. The experiments had led him to think of the possi- 
bility of obtaining a new anaesthetic which should not 
paralyse the heart. Dr. Richardson than mentioned a case 
in which he administered a teaspoonful of prussic acid to a 
dog with paralysed limbs, in order to kill it, on which the 
animal for the first time began to walk about. He gave it 
the entire contents of an once bottle, but did not succeed in 
killing it. The dog was afterwards hanged, and, on examina- 
tion, was found to present no unusual appearance to account 
for the occurrence. 
Mr. Dendy thought the opinion that the Woorara poison 
was often swallowed with impunity received some corrobora- 
tion from the fact, that the Indians constantly ate the game 
killed by the poisoned arrows. He agreed with Dr. Crisp in 
thinking that experiments with animal poison were not 
satisfactorily performed on cold-blooded animals. 
Mr. Rogers Harrison said, he had seen death occur from 
hydrocyanic acid long before any irritation could ensue. He 
mentioned the effects of the cocculus indicus used by poachers 
in order to bring fish to the surface of ponds. The fish were 
evidently first paralysed by the poison, and were easily 
caught ; but, if they were put into fresh water, they would 
recover. 
The author, in replying, said, he did not know whether 
there was any abrasion in the cases mentioned by Mr. Dendy. 
He did not lay much stress on the circumstance, that the 
Indians ate the game killed by the poisoned arrows, seeing 
that the poison must be very much diffused, and the process 
of cooking might probably destroy its effects.™ Medical 
Times. 
