401 
NICOTINA, AND ITS EFFECTS ON ANIMALS. 
“ Hence it follows that, in poisoning by this alkaloid, even 
when the quantity remaining in the body is small, it admits 
of detection in the stomach and in the blood, but not always 
in the tissues. Of the single drop administered to the 
animal, a portion had clearly escaped with the frothy mucus 
and saliva issuing from the mouth. A minute quantity had 
passed into the stomach, and was diffused through a large 
quantity of food, while a trace was detected in the blood; 
but the largest quantity was found in the parts to which the 
poison had been directly applied, and which it had no doubt 
penetrated by imbibition. The results do not show that 
nicotina is not deposited in the viscera in cases of poisoning 
by it, but simply, when the quantity is small and death is 
rapid, that none may be found. 
“ Pathological effects of Nicotina .—The action of this poison 
upon animals has been lately investigated by M. Claude 
Bernard.* His experiments show that mammalia, birds and 
reptiles, are destroyed by nicotina under similar symptoms; 
and that whether applied to the alimentary canal, to a wound 
in the skin, or to the mucous membrane of the conjunctiva, 
its rapidly fatal effects are equally manifested. The arterial 
capillary system appears to be specially affected by the poison, 
through the medium of the sympathetic nerve. The circu¬ 
lation is here arrested, while the heart continues to pulsate. 
The veins are full, but they no longer convey the blood on¬ 
wards. Nicotina appears to affect the nervous system of 
organic life, just as strychnia affects the nervous system of 
animal life, and convulsions in either case are among the 
most prominent symptoms. According to this view the in¬ 
fluence of the sympathetic nerve is specially manifested on 
the vascular capillary system. 
“Nicotina, like prussic acid, is a compound of carbon, 
nitrogen, and hydrogen. It contains no oxygen. Its formula 
is C 10 H 7 N. When exposed to air and light it undergoes a 
chemical change, and acquires a brown colour; its energy as 
a poison is thereby reduced. Bernard states that he found 
the modus operandi of the partially decomposed poison to be 
different from that of pure nicotina. The functions of the 
heart and lungs were directly affected by it; while the pure 
poison chiefly spent its physiological action on the capillary 
circulation. He also found that the perfectly pure nicotina 
produced tetanic rigidity of the limbs. These results may 
explain the different views which have been entertained of 
the mode in which nicotina operates. One set of experi- 
* 1 Lemons sur les Effets des Substances Toxiques et M^dicamenteuses/ 
&c. Paris, 1857, p. 397. 
XXXII. 
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