REVIEW. 
536 
of all that has been advanced, as having been brought to light 
by experiment, has led Mr. Gamgee to the conclusion that, 
“ there is strong ground for the belief that the horse is un¬ 
susceptible of the specific action of emetics, even when directly 
injected into the circulating system” (p. 445.) 
Mr. Gamgee, however, not resting satisfied with a conclu¬ 
sion deduced from the assertions and experience of others, 
came to the determination to experimentalise for himself, 
and this he did on a horse and a mule; from the results of 
which he felt justified in opposing his conclusions to those 
of Dupuy, and others, “ in stating that all the attempts 
hitherto made to excite efforts to vomit, in the horse, by 
emetics, have failed.” And that “ this unsusceptibility to 
emetic action, and the very rare manifestation of the phe¬ 
nomena of vomiting by the horse, must obviously be regarded 
as cause and effect, and, consequently, as an answer to the 
question, Why the horse rarely vomits ?” (p. 446.) 
Professor Coleman expresses himself, in his ‘ Lectures/ 
as follows, on the subject:— 
“ Such animals as live solely on vegetable food, are not 
liable to eat more than they are able to digest, and so to abuse 
their stomachs; consequently, have not the power of vomit¬ 
ing. Thus it is with the horse,— he cannot vomit. Whether 
this be design or not, the facts are, that we possess the 
power, and so do dogs, of vomiting, both our stomachs being 
liable to abuse. But, besides this, if a horse could vomit, the 
contents of the stomach must be ejected into the larynx and 
nose, in either of which situations the act might be produc¬ 
tive of suffocation. There are certain medicines which will 
excite a desire in a horse to vomit, though they are not of 
that kind which are administered as emetics to the human 
subject. Tartar emetic [antimon. potassio-tartras) has no poicer 
at all. Hellebore and aconite are the most active. I once 
saw 7 an instance where some food was forced partly up the 
oesophagus, but not so far as the larynx. We have no medi¬ 
cines that will produce nausea; for, although they excite 
efforts to vomit, we know r of no disease where they do good: 
on the contrary, they increase the pulse instead of lower¬ 
ing it.” 
Of the effects of aconite on the horse, of our own personal 
experience, w r e know nothing; but of that of hellebore we 
