on the Action of Poisons on the Animal System. 225 
t 
degree, for nearly three inches from the pylorus. In the 
situation of the pylorus, the effects of the poison were less 
apparent than in any other part. 
The particular state of the internal membrane of the sto- 
mach, in this experiment as well as in the last, appears to 
have been occasioned by the chemical action of the poison on 
it When I injected a solution of corrosive sublimate into the 
stomach of a dead cat, and retained it there for a few minutes, 
a similar alteration of the texture of the internal membrane 
took place ; but it assumed a lighter gray colour. The differ- 
ence of colour may be explained by the vessels in the one 
case being empty, and in the other case being distended with 
blood at the time of the injection being made. 
The destruction of the substance of the internal membrane 
of the stomach, precludes the idea of the poison having been 
absorbed into the circulation. We must conclude that death 
was the consequence of the chemical action of the poison on 
the stomach. This organ, however, is not directly necessary 
to life, since its functions, under certain circumstances, are 
suspended for hours, or even for days, without death being 
produced. , Although the stomach was the part primarily af- 
fected, the immediate cause of death must be looked for in 
the cessation of the functions of one or more of those organs, 
whose constant action is necessary to life. From the scarlet 
colour of the blood in the left side of the heart, in the expe- 
riment on the rabbit, we may conclude that the functions of 
the lungs were not affected ; but the affection of the heart and 
brain is proved by the convulsions, the insensibility, the affec- 
tion of the pulse in both experiments, and the sudden cessation 
of the heart's action in the first, and we may therefore be 
mdcccxii. G g 
