in which Death is produced by vegetable Poisons. 191 
Experiments with the Empyreumatic Oil of Tobacco .* 
Exp. 13. Less than a drop of this oil was applied to the 
tongue of a young cat. Instantly violent convulsions took 
place in all the muscles, and the respirations became very 
frequent. In five minutes after the application, she lay on one 
side insensible, with slight spasmodic actions of the muscles* 
At the end of eleven minutes, she retched, but did not vomit. 
In a quarter of an hour, she appeared to be recovering. I re- 
peated the application of the poison, and she was again seized 
with violent convulsions, and became insensible, breathing at 
long intervals, and in two minutes from the second applica- 
tion respiration had entirely ceased, and she was apparently 
dead. On opening the thorax, I found the heart acting with 
regularity and strength, circulating dark-coloured blood. I in- 
troduced a tube into the trachea, and produced artificial respi- 
ration; the contractions of the heart became augmented in 
force and frequency, and there was no evident diminution in 
six or seven minutes, during which the artificial respiration was 
continued. 
On dissection, nothing remarkable was found in the appear- 
ance of the tongue or brain. 
The symptoms and mode of death, in this experiment, did 
not essentially differ from those produced by the essential oil 
of almonds. I was surprised to find the effects of the empy- 
reumatic oil so entirely different from those of the infusion of 
* I was furnished with the empyreumatic oil of tobacco by Mr. W. Brande. It 
may be procured by subjecting the leaves of tobacco to distillation in a heat above 
that of boiling water : a quantity of watery fluid comes over, on the surface of which 
is a thin film of unctuous substance. * 
B b 2 
