xviii * Abbi fontanA on the 
was lick, though in one of the cafes the bit of dry poifon was 
very perceptible. I made the fame experiment on three Guinea- 
pigs, and on two fmall rabbits, fill with the fame fuccefs, none 
of them being at ail affedted. It muft be obferved, the poifon 
was not diflolvedby the humours of the wound, and I found the 
bits of it quite intire. 
I put to the mufcle of another pigeon a bit of cotton much 
larger than before, impregnated with about eight times as much 
poifon as in the former cafe : infix minutes time the pigeon fell 
down, and died foon after. To the mufcles of two Guinea-pigs 
I applied bits of cotton fteeped in much the fame quantity of 
poifon as above : one of them died in twelve minutes, and the 
other fell down, as if dead, in fix minutes, but it recovered a 
little time after. 
From thefe experiments I conclude, that above one-hundredth 
part of a grain is requifite to kill a fmall animal ; and that it is 
neceflary that the poifon be diflfolved, for it to prove fatal, or to 
caufe any alteration in the animal oeconomy. 
] have made various experiments to determine whether the 
American poifon be fatal or hurtful when applied to the wounded 
combs of poultry, or to the ears of quadrupeds (lightly wounded., 
The poifon of the viper is not commonly fatal in thefe parts, 
nor is there any vifible diforder in the poifoned comb,, though, 
there is in the wattles, which fwell horribly, fo as fometimes to 
kill the animal. 
I wounded the comb of a fowl in many parts, and twice ap- 
plied to it the American poifon by means of cotton well foaked 
in it, but without being able to produce any diforder. But the 
experiment fucceeded better when tried on the ears. After hav- 
ing made many fruitlefs trials to communicate the poifon by 
fcratching or wounding the ears of many rabbits, all which 
(hewed no figns of injury ; X at lafl fucceeded in killing two in 
lefs than thirty minutes by the application of a great quantity of 
the poifon to the more fiefhy parts of the ears, which I had 
wounded in many places \vith the point of the lancet. 
The experiments on the ears have evinced to me, that where 
there are few blood veflels, either no diforder is produced, or 
4 elfe 
