ON THE EFFECT OF ARSENIC. 515 
A horse worked in the same team with others who were glan- 
dered eleven months. 
All these either died or were destroyed, and the morbid ap¬ 
pearances which characterize glanders were not found in one of 
them. In every one of these experiments either the horses were 
loose, or the sound horse was placed between and in contact with 
two glandered ones. 
THE VETERINARY MATERIA MEDICA. 
ARSENIC. 
u Nimrod’s” communication in the last No. of The Vete¬ 
rinarian on the subject of tonics improving condition, and in 
particular of arsenic having, or appearing to have had, such an 
effect, has induced us to offer a few observations in regard to the 
efficacy of this potent mineral. 
It is a medicine that has been of late but little used in veteri¬ 
nary practice, although one that is possessed of great power both 
as an internal and an external remedy, and many years ago 
in high repute at the Veterinary College, and among those who 
proceeded from that institution, both as a tonic and a vermifuge. 
The preparation of arsenic used in veterinary practice is the 
white oxide, commonly called white arsenic. It is prepared by 
mixing the common arsenical ores with potash, and exposing 
them to a strong heat. The sulphur of the ore unites with the 
potash, and forms sulphuret of potash, and the arsenic is sub¬ 
limed and condensed in flakes or powder round the retort or 
oven. It will be highly necessary for those who use or expe¬ 
riment on arsenic to ascertain its purity, for, cheap as it is, it is 
included in the scandalous system of adulteration practised by 
druggists. The simplest and the most decisive test is to expose 
it to a red heat on an iron plate. If it be pure, it will be entirely 
volatalized, and the quantity of residuum will indicate the quan¬ 
tity of chalk or plaister of Paris with which it was adulterated. 
Arsenic may be introduced into the system either in substance 
or in a state of solution ; or even, we should imagine, in a gaseous 
form. We knew of the case of a horse (locally affected with 
chronic glanders) who took five drachms and a scruple of pow¬ 
dered arsenic, in ball, at a dose, he having begun with taking a 
drachm, and having had that quantity increased daily by an ad¬ 
ditional scruple. Our experience, however, teaches us, that a 
more prudent and efficacious plan of proceeding would be to ex¬ 
hibit it in grain doses, being advocates ourselves for the pre¬ 
scription of medicine in general in small or divided doses ; it only 
requiring, generally speaking, a more frequent repetition of the 
