POISONING BY THE ARSENI ATE OF POTASH. 445 
and much to his credit, immediately examined the corn barrel, 
in which he found (to use his own expression) several little white 
stones. On tasting one, he was surprised at its acidity ; and, 
without knowing the composition of these stones, he decided at 
once that the horses were poisoned. The corn merchant who 
had furnished the oats during the two preceding days was sent 
for, and the suspicion that was entertained respecting these ani¬ 
mals was communicated to him. He unhesitatingly affirmed 
that he had not sent any thing that could possibly have been in¬ 
jurious to the horses. Less cautious than the farrier, he tasted 
a greater quantity of this apparent stony matter, and was pre¬ 
sently seized with colicky pains, which, fortunately for him, were 
not attended by any fatal consequence. It was then, for the 
first time, recollected that one of these packages had been placed 
during the preceding night upon the oat barrel, and it was also 
remembered, that when the waggon was loaded in the morning, 
one of them was observed to be torn. There could no longer be 
any doubt that the horses had been poisoned. 
By the advice of the farrier, two of the horses were immediately 
sent to the establishment of M. Colies, a veterinary surgeon. 
One of them died immediately after entering the infirmary, and 
the second expired an hour afterwards in dreadful agony. The 
third, which had remained in the stables of M. Lamy, died at 
4 A.M., after struggling violently for a long time. 
Soon afterwards three other horses exhibited the same symp¬ 
toms, and at 8 A.M. on the 11th I was sent for. 
I examined them carefully. Two of them appeared to me to 
be in a desperate state. They were considerably swelled ; they 
had violent colic, frequent diarrhoea, difficult respiration, the pulse 
not to be felt, and the extremities cold. The third was not so 
much swelled, and, although he had diarrhoea like the others, his 
colicky pains did not seem to be so violent; his pulse was regular, 
and he searched for something to eat; in a wojjd, there was 
nothing to indicate immediate danger with regard to him, and 
we shall presently see that he lived considerably longer than the 
others. Before 1 prescribed any kind of treatment, 1 examined 
the salt that was found among the oats. By the appearance of 
it, and especially by its weight, I recognized a metallic salt. I 
sent to the merchant from whom it had been received, demanding 
what mineral compound it was: he replied, in writing, that it 
was arseniale of potash. There could no longer be any doubt 
that the horses had been poisoned, as the farrier had sus¬ 
pected. 
Not being acquainted with any approved antidote against the 
poison of arsenic, and knowing that the other horses had been 
VOL. VIII. p 
