166 
ON THE INTRODUCTION OE MEDICINAL SUBSTANCES 
THROUGH THE MILK OE ANIMALS. 
By M. Labourdette. 
M. Labourdette, in his communication to the Academie, 
gives an account of some extensive investigations he has 
entered into ; and M. Bouley, reporting on the paper, enters 
also into a general review of what has previously been done. 
A most extensive series of experiments had been previously 
performed by MM. Chevallier, and O. Henry, and the results 
of these were unfavourable, inasmuch as under the adminis¬ 
tration of medicinal agents, capable of imparting a thera¬ 
peutical agency to the milk, the animals lost their health, and 
at no remote period died. 
M. Labourdette commenced his experiments by adminis¬ 
tering iodide of potassium to cows and goats, which in a very 
short time gave rise to various accidents; and, in all the cases 
in which it was not suspended, at the end of a few weeks the 
animal either died, or entirely lost its milk. In this way 
eighteen animals were sacrificed, notwithstanding the various 
means adopted to counteract the ill effects of the drug. But 
these experiments were performed in Paris, and M. Labour¬ 
dette determined upon repeating them in one of the finest 
Normandy pastures. There, in dairies and stables of ex¬ 
quisite cleanliness, he has kept cows and goats for five or six 
years in perfect health, notwithstanding that their milk, as 
observed personally by the reporter, is impregnated with 
iodine, mercury, or arsenic. One of the first facts ascertained 
by M. Labourdette was the ill effects of sequestration. In 
Paris a cow was not to be kept alive longer than four months, 
providing that the iodine was not suspended ; and even in 
Normandy, if the cows were kept three, or even two days in 
the stables, without resorting to the meadows, similar ill effects 
to those observed at Paris began to be developed. But even 
pasturage and free roaming, although essential, were not 
found to suffice without the aid of an excellent regimen, and 
the administration of medicinal agents, termed by M. Labour¬ 
dette adjuvants and correctives. We have not space to give 
the details of these, but must refer to the paper for them, as 
well as for an account of the means by which the animals 
were induced to take the large doses required, and the mode 
of treating injurious effects when they appeared. Iodide of 
potassium constituted at once the most desirable, and the 
most difficult agent to introduce, being the one tolerated with 
