C 2 °5 3 
XL Further Experiments and Observations on the Action of Poisons 
on the Animal System. By B. C. Brodie, Esq. F. R. S. 
Communicated to the Society for the Improvement of Animal 
Chemistry , and by them to the Royal Society. 
Read February 27, 1812. 
I. 
Since I had the honour of communicating to the Royal 
Society some observations on the action of certain poisons on 
the animal system, I have been engaged in the further pro- 
secution of this inquiry. Besides some additional experiments 
on vegetable poisons, I have instituted several with a view to 
explain the effects of some of the more powerful poisons of 
the mineral kingdom. The former correspond in their results 
so nearly with those which are already before the public, that, 
in the present communication, I shall confine myself to those 
which appear to be of some importance, as they more par- 
ticularly confirm my former conclusions respecting the reco- 
very of animals apparently dead, where the cause of death 
operates exclusively on the nervous system. In my experi- 
ments on mineral poisons, I have found some circumstances 
wherein their effects differ from those of vegetable poisons, 
and of these I shall give a more particular account. What- 
ever may be the value of the observations themselves, the 
subject must be allowed to be one that is deserving of inves- 
tigation, as it does not appear unreasonable to expect that 
. such investigation may hereafter lead to some improvements 
