482 THE EFFECTS OF THE WOORAARA POISON. 
tained, will never sanction any experiment which has even the 
appearance of unnecessary cruelty: but it is evident that, in 
many cases, where the effects of medicines are unknown, and 
where a remedy for the cure of some obstinate or untractable 
disease is wanting, some experiments may be allowable; and 
when these are warranted by circumstances, we shall have no 
hesitation in laying them before our readers. The following are 
of the kind w^e allude to, and we have no doubt will be interest- 
ino^:— 
About three months ago, a medical gentleman having obtained 
a quantity of the Wooraara or Guiana poison, and having ap¬ 
plied to us to obtain a dog to try its effects upon, we procured 
one which the owner wished* to have destroyed, in consequence 
of incurable paralysis; and, having made an incision on the in¬ 
side of the thigh, a quantity of the poison, about the size of half 
a pea, previously moistened, was spread upon the wound. The 
dog was allow^ed to walk or stagger about the room, which he 
continued to do for fifteen minutes, without evincing any symp¬ 
toms of the action of the poison. At the expiration of this time, 
a twitching of the muscles began to take place, and he immedi¬ 
ately became convulsed, and died in seventeen minutes. The 
poison seemed to operate as a powerful narcotic, producing first 
convulsions, stupor, interruption of the functions of the thoracic 
viscera, and death by that means. The vessels of the brain 
were turgid with blood, and the lungs and heart were in a state 
of congestion. 
Wishing to try the effect of this active agent upon the horse, 
the gentleman left us a small quantity of it; and having obtained 
a pony about twelve hands high, which was aged, and affected 
with incurable lameness, besides having a fracture of the pelvis, 
we made an incision through the skin on the breast, and intro¬ 
duced a little more of the poison than had been used for the dog; 
but, after watching the case for three hours, no certain symptoms 
of the action of the poison appeared. There was some slight 
twitching of the muscles; but, as the animal was suffering con¬ 
siderable pain from the fracture of the pelvis, and was scarcely 
able to rise, it is more than probable that these spasms arose 
