68 
LAWRENCE CAMPBELL. 
one hour previously.) I decided upon the nux, for two reasons: 
First, because I thought that seven drachms of the fluid extract 
ought to contain a sufficient quantity of strychnine to kill him ; 
and secondly, if it did not that it might so tone the nervous sys¬ 
tem as to give him sufficient strength to rise. But I expected 
this thought was far from being realized. I did not inform my 
assistants what I intended, as I did not want the owner to know 
that I had given him up and destroyed him ; therefore I only 
told them that it was time for another dose, and after mixing the 
drug with about a pint of water, and with many sorrowful feel¬ 
ings I poured the whole seven drachms down his throat. I 
expected to get symptoms of poisoning in ten or fifteen min¬ 
utes, but the symptoms were slow in appearing, and as time 
passed on I racked my brain, wondering why he didn’t go into 
spasms and die. He had made no move in fifty minutes after 
giving the dose, until suddenly he made a spring, gained his 
front feet, sat for an instant on his haunches, and fell over on his 
side. His exertion did not seem to exhaust him, and we three 
stationed ourselves in position to assist him, if he should try 
again. We did not have long to wait, for suddenly he was up 
again, and by dint of lifting and pushing he stood upon his 
feet. I have seen many weak horses, but it has never been my 
experience, either before or since, to see one show such weakness 
as this one. All his limbs trembled beneath him, and for fully 
an hour we had to hold him and prop him up before he was 
able to stand alone. At this time it was 4 o’clock, and as there 
was a small wood about fifty yards distant we decided that if we 
could get him into it that we would leave him there for the 
night. We started him along, and at the end of about thirty 
minutes we had him in the woods, where we left him. The 
following morning it was raining hard and was quite cold. I 
found the patient standing in the identical spot where we had 
left him. He had not moved a step. I tried to move him but 
he seemed to be rooted down. As I thought the cold rain 
would do him much more harm than good, and as I did not 
think I could move him to shelter, I went to some of the 
