G62 
A COW POISONED BY HENBANE. 
cisely of the colour of the fluid which escaped from a dunghill. 
By little and little, however, it was discharged with more force, 
and in a larger stream, and then resumed its natural colour. During 
the bleeding I made the animal swallow eight or ten pounds of cold 
water slightly acidulated. 
In proportion as the blood ran the convulsions diminished—the 
pupils contracted—the carotids beat with less force, and, at length, 
the cow got up. I had abstracted about ten pounds of blood when 
the convulsions entirely ceased and the free motion of the extre¬ 
mities was re-established. 
I now arrested the bleeding, and the cow was led back to the 
stable. She had recovered the sense of sight—her step was 
firmer, and, a little while afterwcirds, she manifested a desire to eat: 
nevertheless, fearing the subsequent inflammation of the stomach, 
or of some other viscus, I put her on a restricted diet for two days, 
at the expiration of which time she appeared to be perfectly re¬ 
covered. 
This fact, the only one which I have of the kind, seems to 
possess some interest, from the manner in which the henbane acted 
on the cow. It exerts no deleterious effect so long as it is in the 
paunch; it is only after rumination that the symptoms of empoi- 
sonment are manifested. The cowherd assured me that, only a few 
minutes before she fell in the stable, she was ruminating, and no¬ 
thing appeared to be the matter with her. It is only in the abo¬ 
masum that the active principle of the henbane finds itself in cir¬ 
cumstances favourable to the development of its power. Its influ¬ 
ence is most remarkable on the heart and the brain. We have seen 
the activity of the circulation towards the superior regions, and its 
feebleness towards the posterior ones. The pulsations of the 
coccygean artery were almost imperceptible, and even, on opening 
that vessel, the blood escaped in an almost thread-like stream, and 
its colour was essentially changed. On the other hand, the para¬ 
lysis of the posterior limbs, and the convulsions that were observed, 
were they the result of compression of the brain, or of immediate 
or sympathetic irritation 1 The first seems to me the most pro¬ 
bable, since one arterial bleeding of ten pounds, and some pints of 
cooling fluid introduced into the abomasum, made the whole train 
of morbid phenomena vanish as by enchantment. 
