W011ARI POISON. 
139 
“ There are now two positive proofs of the effect of this fatal poison : 
viz., the death of the hog, and that of the sloth. But still these animals 
were nothing remarkable lor size; and the strength of the poison in large 
animals might yet be doubted, were it not for what follows. 
“A large well-fed ox, from nine hundred to a thousand pounds weight, 
was tied to a stake by a rope sufficiently long to allow him to move to 
and fro. Having no large Coucourite spikes at hand, it was judged neces- 
sary, on account of his superior size, to put three wild-hog arrows into 
him, one was sent into each thigh just above the hock, in order to avoid 
wounding a vital part, and the third was shot traversely into the extremity 
of the nostril. 
The poison seemed to take effect in four minutes. Conscious as though 
he w r ould fall,, the ox set himself firmly on his legs, .and remained quite still 
in the same place, till about the fourteenth minute, when he smelled the 
ground, and appeared as if inclined to walk. He advanced a pace or two, 
staggered, and fell, and remained extended on his side, with his head on the 
ground. His eye, a few minutes ago so bright and lively, now became 
fixed and dim, and though you put your hand close to it, as if to give him 
a blow there, lie never closed his eyelid. 
“ His legs were convulsed, and his head from time to time started in- 
voluntarily; but he never showed the least desire to raise it from the 
ground ;. he breathed hard, and emitted foam from his mouth. The start- 
ings, or subsultus tendinum, now became gradually weaker and weaker ; 
his hinder parts were fixed in death ; and in a minute or two more his 
head and fore-legs ceased to stir. 
“Nothing now remained to show that life was still within him, except 
that his heart faintly beat and fluttered at intervals. In five and twenty 
minutes from the time of his being wounded, he was quite dead. His flesh 
was very sweet and savoury at dinner.” 
[Our correspondent, to whom we owe an apology for 
seeming neglect, having alluded to some experiments per- 
formed by the late Professor Sewell, with this poison, we 
append them, since it is more than probable that many of 
our readers are not acquainted with them. Moreover, they 
have the advantage of being brief.] 
“ Case I. — Idiopathic Tetanus. 
“ A horse, suffering from a severe attack of tetanus and 
locked jaw, the mouth being too firmly closed to admit the 
introduction of either food or medicine, was inoculated on 
the fleshy part of the shoulder with an arrow point coated 
with Wourali. In ten minutes apparent death w as produced. 
Artificial respiration was immediately commenced, and kept 
up about four hours, w hen reanimation took place : the 
animal rose up, appeared perfectly recovered , and eagerly partook 
of corn and hay , with w hich he was too abundantly supplied 
during the night. The consequence was, over-distension of 
the stomach, of w 7 hich he died the following day without the 
slightest recurrence of tetanic symptoms ” 
