NICKING A HORSE’S TAIL. 
29 
weeks and two days had elapsed. On the 1st of June, 1846, at 
10 P. M., a ball containing one ounce of arsenic made up with 
marshmallow powder was administered by M. Reichert himself, 
and he expected that death would follow in the space of twenty-four 
hours. Such, however, proved not the case. In the first four or 
five hours after the administration of the poison nothing particular 
was observed. The animal continued as restless as before, but 
after that time he experienced suddenly short intervals of quiet¬ 
ude, and would frequently look round at his flanks, and point his 
ears, as if listening or watching. These symptoms occurred four 
or five times in an hour, and lasted each time from two to three 
minutes. 
About ten in the morning, twelve hours after the administration 
of the poison, the animal began to paw, and lay down twice ; and 
the last time he lay quiet until twelve o’clock, when he sud¬ 
denly jumped up, and neighed. Some water was held before him, 
and he drank nearly a pailful of it. While down his respiration 
was increased; his pulse, too, beat more per minute, and the 
pupils of his eyes were more expanded. This was all that was ob¬ 
served until four o’clock P.M., when the old symptoms of restless¬ 
ness and intense suffering returned, and in less than an hour his 
body was again covered with profuse perspiration. The owner 
on this lost all patience, and insisted that another dose of arsenic 
should be given forthwith. Mons. R. decided on doubling the 
quantity, and to administer two ounces at once; but he could 
only obtain an ounce and a half, that being all that could be pro¬ 
cured in the place. Not to be disappointed, however, he added 
half an ounce of corrosive sublimate. This was again adminis¬ 
tered by Mons. R. himself at 10 P.M., exactly twenty-four hours 
after the administration of the first dose. It is also worthy of 
notice, that in the last twenty-four hours the horse had had no food of 
any kind, excepting a pailful of water. Six hours after the adminis¬ 
tration of this second dose, the restlessness of the animal somewhat 
abated; the pupils were dilated, and the animal seemed to stare 
more; it, however, pawed very much, but at times stood quite 
still, as if in the act of listening: it looked at its flanks, and an 
abundant flow of saliva was observed at the mouth. Since 
Mons. R. had given the ball himself, he was quite sure that no part 
had remained in the mouth, therefore the discharge of saliva 
could not be attributed to this. The pulse was increased from eleven 
to twelve per minute, and the respiration became very much hurried 
and irregular. This state lasted without any visible change until 
8 A.M., at which time violent purging set in, which continued for 
twenty-four hours, during which time the animal remained quite 
