PHARMACEUTICAL  NOTES. 
175 
ing  as  bright  as  ever.  I  next  tried  a  much  smaller  dog  (a  black  and  tan 
terrier  weighing  a  little  over  11  pounds)  who  had  been  fed  on  meat  only 
for  about  a  week.  To  this  dog  15  grains  of  powdered  bean  was  given, 
and  as  the  animal  was  so  much  smaller  than  the  former  one  I  expected 
to  see  a  more  decided  action  than  before  ;  to  my  great  surprise  the  dose 
did  not  seem  to  disturb  him  in  the  least.  There  was  no  contraction  of 
pupils,  nor  any  action  whatever  that  I  could  ascribe  to  the  bean.  Find- 
ing Nunnelly  had  obtained  the  most  marked  results  from  35  grains  given 
to  a  small  dog,  I  gave  this  little  dog  a  similar  quantity  (35  grains)  the 
next  day.  To  my  great  surprise  from  this  also  I  got  no  effect.  Expecting 
that  so  large  a  quantity  of  the  poison  would  manifest  itself  in  some  man- 
ner, I  watched  the  animal  closely  for  two  hours,  but  no  effects  were  visi- 
ble, unless  it  might  be  sleepiness ;  he  slept  quite  soundly  during  the 
afternoon,  which  is  rather  unusual  for  a  little  terrier  dog. 
My  experiments  with  the  bean  itself  thus  far  seeming  to  contradict 
one  another,  and  to  produce  no  very  marked  results,  I  concluded  to  try 
to  get  the  active  principle  in  a  more  concentrated  form.  Accordingly 
four  beans  from  my  now  limited  stock  were  reduced  to  powder,  and  ex- 
hausted by  treating  with  successive  portions  of  boiling  alcohol,  and  the 
tincture  thus  obtained  evaporated  to  dryness.  The  result  was  a  dark 
brownish  mass  of  a  resinous  character,  which  weighed  a  little  over  2 
grains.  This  mass  was  divided  into  iwo  equal  portions,  one  of  which  was 
administered  to  the  little  dog,  upon  which  the  dose  of  35  grains  o  the 
bean  had  produced  no  poisonous  effects  a  few  days  before. 
For  the  first  20  minutes  nothing  unusual  was  noticed,  but  at  the  end  of 
that  time  he  begun  to  show  a  little  uneasiness,  which  was  manifested  by 
drawing  himself  backwards.  In  30  minutes  there  was  manifest  disturb- 
ance, and  at  32  minutes  after  taking  the  dose  there  was  a  copious  evacu- 
ation of  the  intestines.  In  35  minutes  there  was  another  large,  watery 
stool,  accompanied  by  great  tenesmus,  with  abortive  attempts  at  vomiting. 
His  walk,  at  the  end  of  40  minutes,  became  staggering,  and  his  move- 
ments uncertain.  He  did  not  seem  weak,  but  lacked  the  power  of  asso- 
ciating muscular  action.  He  would  follow  me  in  an  uncertain  course  as 
if  intoxicated  ;  his  ears  were  drawn  back,  and  he  evidently  felt  a  great 
degree  of  uneat  *  less.  Drinking  some  water  seemed  to  allay  his  nausea, 
but  produced  slavering.  These  symptoms  continued  to  increase  for  three 
hours,  accompanied  by  efforts  to  discharge  foecal  matter,  when  the  tenes- 
mus seemed  to  abate  while  the  other  symptoms  increased.  At  three 
hours  and  ten  minutes  after  taking  the  poison  he  could  not  stand  still, 
but  his  body  moved  from  side  to  side*.  The  pupils  were  very  sensitive  ; 
when  exposed  to  a  strong  light  from  the  window  they  would  alternately 
contract  and  dilate,  contracting  to  not  more  than  a  line  in  diameter,  and 
then  suddenly  dilating  to  their  fullest  extent,  would  remain  so  for  an  in- 
stant and  then  gradually  contract  again,  the  contraction  being  much 
slower  than  the  dilatation.    Soon  after  the  intestinal  disturbance  had 
