67 
EXPERIMENTS ON NITRE. 
By Mr. Cupiss, Diss, Norfolk. 
To the Editor of “ The Veterinarian .” 
Sir, — In your Veterinarian for September last, I read 
with considerable interest M. Saussofs account of poisoning 
lambs by the efflorescent nitrate of potash, licked from the wall 
of their sheep-cot, as also your observations, “ made in order 
to elicit the opinion and practice of others for I perfectly 
coincide with you, that it is only by the inter-communication of 
experience that the advancement of our profession can be attained. 
As my opinion of the effects of nitre differed materially from many 
circumstances noticed by you, I resolved to persist in the in- 
vestigation, and, if possible, arrive at some correct conclusions 
respecting its medicinal effects upon the horse, in continuance 
of my experiments on poisons and supposed poisons, before pub- 
lished in the Veterinary Recorder * . 
Nitrate of potash, or saltpetre, is well known as an article of 
commerce, and of domestic use ; it is a neutral salt, formed by 
the combination of nitric acid and potash. 
On the human subject its effects are refrigerant and diapho- 
retic. In repeated small doses it diminishes arterial action, and 
increases the secretion of urine. Externally applied, it is cool- 
ing and detergent. In large doses, though sometimes compara- 
tively harmless, it generally occasions death, attended with cold- 
ness of the extremities, and the most excruciating pains of the 
chest and stomach. Orfila relates three fatal cases of this kind, 
from which, and several experiments made by himself upon 
dogs, he concludes, — 
ls£, That the nitrate of potash introduced into the stomach 
of dogs and men, acts in the same manner as acrid or corrosive 
poisons. 
2d, That it is capable of producing death when it is not 
vomited, and has been swallowed in the dose of two or three 
drachms. 
3d, That it appears to act immediately on the mucous tex- 
ture of the digestive canal, and subsequently on the nervous 
system, after the manner of stupefying poisons. 
4 th, That it is not absorbed when applied to the cellular 
texture, and consequently that it is confined, in this case, to the 
production of local effects. 
* It was no feeling of disrespect to the Editors of this Journal which 
induced me to publish my former experiments in the V eterinary Recorder , 
but a personal intimacy with the proprietors of that publication. 
