ON THE EFFECTS OF ACRID POISONS. 
OQ 7 
<Viv I 
an active poison to horses and other cattle. They generally die in a 
few hours after taking this poison; but it has been shown by my friend 
Bracv Clark, that if food be taken in conjunction with, or immediately 
after, the yew leaves, the injurious effects do not follow, but the poison 
and the food appear to be digested together. The second point is the 
complete illustration of the remarks which I have offered respecting the 
production of coagulable lymph, and of the escape of blood from minute 
points on the inflamed surface. 
3rdly. The detachment of this layer of lymph from the mucous sur¬ 
face, which was probably brought about by the efforts to vomit, renewed 
with increased energy by the emetics of sulphate of zinc. This is a 
practical point, bearing on the use of emetics and the mode of employ¬ 
ing them *. 
No. 2. This case occurred so recently as the 21st of last month, 
(August, 1834.) It is that of a middle-aged man who like the lad in 
the preceding case had taken arsenic. 
22— Smo. —1834. Guy’s Hospital .—Examination of the body of 
A. B., aged about 35 years, a patient of B. B. Cooper’s in Accident 
Ward, admitted on the 21st, a short time after he had taken about an 
ounce of arsenic. He was a man of dissolute and intemperate habits 
and took the arsenic whilst in a state of intoxication. Vomiting had 
taken place in about half an hour after he had swallowed the poison. 
On medical assistance being obtained, the stomach-pump was freely 
employed ; he was afterwards removed to the hospital, where an emetic 
of sulphate of zinc was administered and acted pretty freely. The 
patient was then perfectly sensible, and endeavoured as far as lay in 
his power to cooperate with the means employed for his recovery. Be¬ 
sides the emetic a considerable quantity of chalk was given to him. 
He was affected with purging as well as vomiting. His first stcols 
were not seen, but those which he afterwards passed contained much 
jellylike mucus. He passed some urine, the character of which was 
not noticed. The abdomen was somewhat painful when pressed. 
He sunk in a state of collapse about midnight. 
The external appearances presented nothing remarkable. The body 
was in good condition as to flesh, and its surface generally pale. 
The head was not opened. 
The pleura on the right side was almost universally adherent by a 
firm old adventitious cellular membrane. The left was perfectly free 
from adhesions ; there was little or no serum in its cavity. The sub¬ 
stance of the lungs appeared generally crepitant and healthy, Due 
posteriorly there was a good deal of sanguineous engorgement, having 
very much the character of pulmonary apoplexy. In the anterior por¬ 
tion of the lung were one or two rounded portions having completely 
this character. The pericardium contained some straw-coloured serum. 
The heart was large, but neither remarkably gorged nor contracted; 
the right auricle was rather distended; the blood in the right ventri- 
* A drawing of the rejected portion of lymph illustrated this case. 
Q 2 
