in which Death is produced by vegetable Poisons. 185 
muscles, and I thought that I was about to fall. However, 
these sensations were momentary, and I experienced no in- 
convenience whatever afterwards. 
I afterwards applied a more minute quantity of the essential 
oil to my tongue several times, without experiencing from it 
any disagreeable effects ; but on applying a larger quantity, I 
was affected with the same momentary sensations as in the 
former instance, and there was a recurrence of them in three 
or four seconds after the first attack had subsided. 
From the instantaneousness, with which the effects are pro- 
duced; and from its acting more speedily when applied to the 
tongue, than when injected into the intestine, though the latter 
presents a better absorbing surface, we may conclude that this 
poison acts on the brain through the medium of the nerves, 
without being absorbed into the circulation. 
Experiment with the Juice of the Leaves of Aconite. 
Exp. 7. An ounce of this juice was injected into the rectum 
of a cat. Three minutes afterwards he voided what appeared 
to be nearly the whole of the injection ; he then stood for some 
minutes perfectly motionless, with his legs drawn together; 
at the end of nine minutes, from the time of the injection, he 
retched and vomited ; then attempted to walk, but faultered 
and fell at every step, as if from giddiness. At the end of 
thirteen minutes, he lay on one side insensible, motionless, 
except some slight convulsive motions of the limbs. The 
respiration became slow and laboured ; and at forty-seven 
minutes from the time of the injection, he was apparently 
dead. One minute and a half afterwards, the heart was found 
contracting regularly one hundred times in a minute. 
