VETERINARY TOXICOLOGY. 
245 
ever, in all animals, from whatever channel the poison enters, 
but the means of counteracting them are not so satisfactory. 
The stomach-pump, although recommended by some 
authors, seems of doubtful utility, both on account of the 
extreme difficulty of application and the nature of the food ; 
indeed, I am afraid it is only an instrument of the lecture- 
room and text-book. 
The subjects of this communication were three cows, the 
property of Mr. James Barker, Deeping Fen, who, while en¬ 
gaged emptying out a corn-drill that contained a quantity of 
wheat and arsenic, had occasion to leave the field in which 
the cows were pastured, and found, on his return, that they 
had consumed a quantity of the poisoned grain—at least not 
less than a bushel among them. 
The arsenic was in the form of arsenious acid, or the white 
arsenic of the chemist, and had been used for preventing the 
attacks of wireworms, in the proportion of a quarter of a 
pound of arsenic to a bushel of wheat, so that if they had 
been uniformly mixed the cows must have had a poisonous 
dose. I saw them about two hours after they had eaten the 
grain, but nothing could be observed amiss. 
I proceeded upon the assumption that a poisonous dose 
had been swallowed, and at once administered to each Tinct. 
Ferri Perchloridi f. ^ij ppt. by Liq. Ammoniee fort., washed 
and given moist. This was followed, in less than half an 
hour, by Magnesia Sulphas lb. j, in a pint and a half of warm 
milk, drawn from their own glands, as readiest and most 
accessible. I left ^ij of Mist. Opii, to be given in a pint of 
linseed oil two hours afterwards. They were watched over 
night, and on visiting them next morning, or about twelve 
hours from the time of my leaving the previous evening, 
nothing wrong could be detected ; they had ruminated most 
of the time, and were grazing in the field as if nothing at all 
had occurred to them. I saw or heard of them at intervals 
for five days, when I declared them out of danger. Not so, 
however, for about the ninth day it appears one of them was 
observed falling off in her milk and indifferent to food; but 
no notice was taken of her until she refused all food three 
days afterwards. It so happened that the owner, a small 
farmer in the fen, called in an unqualified practitioner, think¬ 
ing, of course, that the disorder, whatever it might be, was 
in no way connected with the poison. He, it appears, was 
his regular attendant in ordinary cases ; but the eating of a 
quantity of arsenic being considered an extraordinary one, I 
was honoured with a call. 
However that may be, the quack set to work by adminis- 
