ANTIMONY. 
§ 786.] 
taneously, all animals able to vomit 1 do so. The heart’s action, at 
first quickened, is afterwards slowed, weakened, and lastly paralysed. 
This action is noticed in cold- as well as in warm-blooded animals. It is 
to be ascribed to a direct action 011 the heart ; for if the brain and 
spinal cord of the frog be destroyed—or even if a solution of the salt be 
applied direct to the frog’s heart separated from the body—the effect is 
the same. ’ The weak action of the heart, of course, causes the blood- 
pressure to diminish, and the heart stops in diastole. The voluntary 
muscles of the body are also weakened ; the breathing is affected, partly 
from the action on the muscles. The temperature of the body is de¬ 
pressed (according to F. A. Falck’s researches) from 4’4° to 6*2°. 
The effect of small doses given repeatedly to animals has been 
several times investigated. Dr Nevin 2 experimented upon eleven 
rabbits, giving them tartar emetic four times a day in doses of 32-4 
mgrms. (J grain), 64-8 mgrms. (1 grain), and 129*6 mgrms. (2 grains). 
Five died, the first after four, the last after seventeen days ; three 
were killed after one, three, and four days respectively, two after an 
interval of fourteen days, and one thirty-one days after taking the last 
dose. There was no vomiting ; diarrhoea was present in about half the 
number ; one of the rabbits, being with young, aborted. The chief 
symptoms were general dulness, loss of appetite, and in a few days 
great emaciation. Four of the five that died were convulsed before 
death ; and several of the animals exhibited ulcers of the mucous 
membrane of the mouth, in places with which the powder had come in 
contact. Caillol and Livon have also studied the action of small doses 
of the white oxide of antimony given in milk to cats. A cat took in 
this way in 109 days *628 grm. The animal passed gradually into a 
cachectic state, diarrhoea supervened, and it died miserably thin and 
exhausted. 
1 L. Hermann ( Lehrbuch der experimentellen Toxicologie) remarks that the vomit¬ 
ing must be considered as a reflex action from the inflammatory excitement of the 
digestive apparatus, especially of the stomach. It is witnessed if the poison is 
administered subcutaneously or injected into the brain. Indeed, it is established 
that (at least, so far as the muscles are concerned) the co-ordinate movements pro¬ 
ducing vomiting are caused by excitement of the medulla oblongata. Giannussi 
and others found that after section between the first and third vertebrae of dogs, and 
subsequent administration of tartar emetic, no vomiting took place ; and Grimm’s 
researches seem to show that the suspected vomit-centre is identical with the respira¬ 
tory centre, so that the vomiting movement is only an abnormal respiratory move¬ 
ment. L. Hermann, however, considers the theory that when tartar emetic is in¬ 
troduced into the vessels the vomit-centre is directly excited, erroneous, for (1) in 
introducing it by the veins much larger doses are required to excite vomiting than 
by the stomach ; and (2), after subcutaneous injection of the salt, antimony is found 
in the first vomit. His explanation, therefore, is that antimony is excreted by the 
intestinal tract, and in its passage excites this action. Majendie’s well-known 
experiment—demonstrating that, after extirpation of the stomach, vomiting move¬ 
ments were noticed—is not considered opposed to this view. 
2 Lever, Med. Chir. Journ., No. 1. 
