TOXICOLOGY. 
524 
quantity of yellow serosity was effused in the abdomen; but 
the stomach, small intestines, colon, and body of the caecum were 
sound, except that there was a profound erosion, the size of a 
crown piece, at the point of the caecum—the mucous membrane 
having been there completely destroyed. 
CASE XVIL 
The antidote was given twenty-five hours after the ingestion of 
the arsenic, and when the first symptoms of empoisonment began 
to develop themselves. The antidote was now powerless, and 
the horse died twenty-four hours afterwards, exhibiting, on after¬ 
examination, the most decisive traces of the influence of the 
poison. 
CASE XVIII. 
It appeared to me important to analyze the matters contained 
in the intestinal canal, and to ascertain whether, according to 
M. Bunzen, the arsenious acid had combined with the iron, and 
arseniate of iron had been produced. The poison and the an¬ 
tidote were therefore administered to a horse who was destroyed 
seventy-two hours afterwards, not having exhibited any symptoms 
of disease. 
The contents of the stomach, small intestines, caecum, and 
colon were collected separately, and conveyed to M. Lassaique, 
who, with a kindness which I shall ever recollect and gratefully 
acknowledge, proceeded to analyze them. He reported that 
it was impossible to recognize a trace of arsenious acid either 
in the fluid or more solid parts of the contents of these viscera, 
and that this induced him to believe that the greatest part or the 
whole of the poison had been neutralized by the peroxide of iron, 
and expelled by the animal in the state of an arseniate before 
he was destroyed. 
It might have been desirable to have ascertained the precise 
porportion of the hydrate necessary to neutralize the poison; but 
it would have been very difficult to have arrived at any satisfac¬ 
tory conclusion on this point. M. Bunzen gives from twn to four 
drachms of the antidote to destroy the deleterious action of eight 
or ten grains of white arsenic. MM. Miquel and Soubeiran 
use only twelve times as much of the antidote as of the poison; 
while MM. Orfila and Le Seur give a greater proportionate 
quantity of the antidote than either of the other gentlemen. It 
is, however, demonstrated, that the antidote, which contains in 
itself nothing injurious, should be given in a dose very much 
more considerable than that of the poison. I have uniformly 
given thirty-two times the weight. 
