BY THE NITRATE OF POTASH. 
531 
were covered with moisture in the form of little drops, which, 
becoming mixed with earthy particles, crystallized. The lambs 
were continually licking this saline production, and I immedi- 
ately began to suspect the cause of their disease. I examined 
these efflorescences, and soon ascertained, from their peculiar 
taste and manner of crystallizing, and their fusing and spark- 
ling when thrown on heated charcoal, that they consisted of 
nitrate of potash. 
I next proceeded to examine the three lambs, in order to satisfy 
myself whether the nitrate of potash could be found in the ali- 
mentary canal, or the lesions which it produced when given in 
too large a dose. The post-mortem appearances were the same 
in all of them. The stomachs, and particularly the fourth, con- 
tained only a small portion of aliment, and which was in a 
liquid form in the last stomach. The mucous membrane of all 
the stomachs, and particularly of the fourth, exhibited a great 
number of inflammatory spots, or irregularly formed ecchymoses. 
The intestines presented the same spots, but not in so great a 
number. The bladder was filled with bloody urine, and its 
mucous membrane was also ecchymosed. All the abdominal veins 
were gorged with black blood. Neither the liver nor the spleen 
presented any thing peculiar in their appearance. The lungs 
were slightly congested, and the vessels of the brain were injected 
like those of the intestines. 
These appearances left little reason for doubt as to the real 
cause of death ; but I was determined to complete my examina- 
tion by ascertaining whether any nitre could be found in the 
digestive tube. I collected all the matters contained in the 
stomachs, intestines, and bladders of these lambs, and I scraped 
the mucous membrane with a knife. I added sufficient water 
to this mass, and boiled it, and filtering and evaporating the 
fluid, I obtained some saline crystals. I threw some of them on 
the fire, and there was instant fusion and scintillation, and of the 
same kind as had been produced from the crystals on the walls. 
Their taste was also the same : I therefore concluded that the 
lambs had been poisoned by nitrate of potash. 
Out of sixty lambs, fifteen were already dead, and six were 
now ill : the rest of the flock was much out of condition. Some 
of the sick lambs took the teat as eagerly as usual, but the 
others refused all kinds of food. Of these last the eyes were 
red — the mouth hot— they were scarcely able to stand — and where 
they fell there they lay : they heaved at the flanks, and they 
purged violently. They usually died on the fourth or fifth day 
after the apparent commencement of illness ; but some died on 
the first or second day. 
