400 
NICOTINA, AND ITS EFFECTS ON ANIMALS. 
dark-coloured blood which they contained. The intestines 
were pale, but there was great congestion of the vessels of the 
mesenterv. The liver and kidnevs were congested with dark- 
coloured blood ; the lungs were pale and not congested; the 
right cavity of the heart contained a small quantity of blood 
of a dark colour, and in a partially coagulated state. The left 
cavities were empty; the blood which escaped during the in¬ 
spection was fluid, and of a dark, claret-red colour, with a 
pinkish tinge when seen in a thin layer; on exposure to the 
air it became lighter in colour, but did not pass to a florid red. 
The colour of the blood was similar to that which I have occa- 
sionajly seen in poisoning by prussic acid and the essential oil 
of bitter almonds. 
u Analysis .—The parts removed for analysis were : 1, the 
stomach and its contents ; 2, half an ounce of blood collected 
from the vessels of the abdomen; 3, the liver; 4, the heart, 
kidneys, and lungs ; 5 , the tongue, palate, and soft parts ad¬ 
jacent. None of these organs or parts had the odour of nico- 
tina. This was only perceptible near the mouth of the animal, 
but it rapidly disappeared. The stomach contained about 
two ounces of green vegetable matter, which had an acid re¬ 
action— it had obviously undergone fermentation. Although 
examined within two hours of death, no odour of nicotina or 
tobacco could be perceived by four persons who were present. 
This led to the supposition that no part of the drop of the alka¬ 
loid which had destroyed life could have reached the stomach. 
The stomach and its contents were treated by Orfila’s process, 
as elsewhere described with the result that a small quantity 
of nicotina was separated, possessing the odour and properties 
assigned to this alkaloid. 
“ The half ounce of blood similarly treated also yielded nico¬ 
tina in sufficient quantity to allow of the bare inference of its 
presence. The odour of the separated alkaloid was masked 
by some other organic principle. Some blood of an animal 
not poisoned by nicotina was submitted to all the steps of the 
analysis, with negative results. The liver, weighing two 
ounces, and the heart and lungs together, were separately 
examined by the same process, but nicotina was not detected 
in the tissues of these organs. The tongue, palate, and soft 
parts of the mouth, were similarly treated after a week. The 
membrane of the tongue was softened and readily peeled off: 
this effect was probably partly due to putrefaction, as one 
drop of the alkaloid would not have been sufficient to cause 
such local changes. In these parts, nicotina was distinctly 
present. A sufficient quantity was separated in a pure state, 
not only to lead to the recognition of the odour, but to allow 
of the application of all the characteristic tests. 
