result, metastatic abscesses, accompanied by a general typhoid state, which was often fatal, as an ulterior result, either disseminated nodules, at first hard, but afterwards becoming caseous at their centres, or interstitial induration, both forms of lesion having their seat chiefly in the lungs, spleen, and liver, but also occurring in other viscera.-The Doctor, June, 1872, p. 132.

(124.) Take pus-you do not want to go to decomposing vegetable or other animal fluids, you may do it with them—but take pus, and with it I could make a case of pyœmia or scepticæmia according to order, by the length of time which I kept the pus before I injected it; and I know very well, in experimenting on this subject, you may produce all degrees of the disease, and you may say that the chance of getting secondary abscesses are in direct ratio to the length of time an animal lives after it has become inoculated with the poison. When the poison is thoroughly septic, when you have that terrible substance which Dr. Burdon Sanderson has shown us how to get in the peritoneal cavity of an animal, the blood becomes. so poisoned and spoilt, that it kills outright, and there is no time for the secondary effects to supervene.—Dr. Savory, British Medical Fournal, No. 686, p. 240.

(125.)—If, for example, you take perfectly fresh pus, not putrid in the least degree, pus that contains no flocculi, perfectly limpid and pure pus, and inject it into the venous system of a dog, you will get a great rise in temperature. We get shivering and malaise, and, after a certain time, the dog's recovery. You may inject a considerable quantity of pus, and you may repeat the experiment again and again, and the dog may recover. That I take to be simply pyæmia. If, on the other hand, you take pus which is no longer perfectly limpid, but a little flocculent-it need not be putrescent-which contains particles of such a size that they may stick in the vessels, and, if you can inject that pus, then you get the same train of symptoms, you get abscesses, you get purulent deposits in different parts of the body, the internal viscera, and so on. In fact, you may imitate simple pyæmia and the multiple pyæmia which we get in a human subject. On the other hand, if you take putrid matter whether vegetable or animal-for instance, if you take cabbage leaves and let them rot thoroughly in a solution, and then get this foul stinking cabbage water, if you clear away all the solid particles as far as you can, you will by these means get a train of symptoms which may be free from metastatic abscesses. You get a high temperature, you get shivering, not always, but very frequently, you get vomitting, purging, collapse, and the rapid death of the dog. -Mr. Hulke, British Medical Journal, No. 686, p. 238.

(126.)—In the British Medical Journal, No. 718 and succeeding numbers, a series of six hundred and nineteen experiments are reported, performed by Dr. Bennett, extending over a period of four years, to show :

1. Antagonism between Strychnia and Chloral Hydrate.

One of these

To eighty-three rabbits and thirty-one rats were administered doses of strychnia with the usual result of horrible torture. is thus described :—

Experiment 36. On the tenth day after the former experiment one-ninetieth of a grain of strychnia was again injected into the same animal under the skin over the left loin. The animal remained quiet for five minutes, when it became restless, and moved about with a staggering gait. In two minutes more it leaped from the table, fell on its side, and had several severe convulsions, with an extreme degree of opisthotonos. These convulsive attacks occurred three times, when death ensued twenty-six minutes after the administration of the poison.

2. Antagonism between Sulphate of Atropia and Calabar Bean. Before commencing in this class Dr. Fraser indicated his results in the same field of experiments. Nevertheless, Dr. Bennett proceeded to operate on one hundred and twelve animals, with the following shocking results :--

In a

Experiment 126. Male rabbit, weighing three pounds eight ounces. Three-fourths of a grain of extract of calabar bean dissolved in ten minims of water were injected under the skin of the back. minute and a half there were slight twitchings of the skin. In three minutes the breathing became very hurried, and the animal seemed to be very distressed. Saliva now accumulated profusely in the mouth. In two minutes more the animal rested on its abdomen and chest, and spread out its legs, which were stiff. It attempted to gain its natural position, but in vain. The pupils were now contracted from seven-twenty-fifths (their diameter before the experiment) to three-twenty-fifths of an inch. Soft diffluent fæces were passed. At the end of eighteen minutes from the time of the introduction of the poison the animal was lying on its side. The respirations were much laboured. It remained in this condition for thirteen minutes more, with severe occasional muscular tremors, when it died; that is, thirty-one minutes after receiving the three-fourths of a grain of the

extract.

3. Antagonism between Hydrate of Chloral and Calabar Bean. Sixty animals in this class were tortured, their expressions being "profuse salivation," "severe tremors," "asphyxia," "very ill, "much affected," "very ill for eight hours," &c.

4. Antagonism between Sulphate of Atropia and Meconate

of Morphia.

Notwithstanding the numerous experiments and observations which have been made on this subject, a careful investigation into the evidence which existed previously to the committee's inquiry could not but demonstrate that nothing positive or certain had been arrived at. One hundred and eighty-one rabbits and dogs were tortured as follows:

Experiment 299. Rabbit weighing three pounds and a half. Cardiac impulses forty-five in ten seconds. Respirations twelve in ten seconds. Pupils measured in their transverse diameter twelve-fiftieths of an inch. Six grains of meconate of morphia in thirty minims of water were injected subcutaneously under the skin of the back. In three minutes the animal lay on its abdomen and chest, with the hind legs extended and stiffened. The transverse diameter of the pupil was now about eleven-fiftieths of an inch. Respirations ten in ten seconds; cardiac impulses forty-two in ten seconds. In two minutes more the animal attempted to walk, and it progressed forwards with evident difficulty, owing to the weakness of the posterior extremities. When moving a slight push was sufficient to turn the animal over on its side. In eight minutes more there were slight convulsive twitches of the muscles of the back, and the animal was now quite narcotised.

Experiment 300. Thirty minutes after receiving the dose the respirations were reduced to six in ten seconds; the cardiac impulses fell to thirty-eight in ten seconds, and the pupil now measured sixfiftieths of an inch. The muscular twitchings had increased. After a little time there were severe spasms coming on with great suddenness, accompanied by bending backwards of the spine and pawing movements of the fore limbs. These spasms continued for nearly thirty minutes.

Experiment 307. Twenty minutes after a dose a dog was much excited. It sat on its haunches and swayed its head from side to side. Occasionally it tried to walk, but there was evident weakness of all the limbs, more especially of the hind extremities. On placing the hand over the wall of the chest the pulsations of the heart could be distinctly seen and felt. The animal continued in this state for nearly four hours when it began slowly to recover. It appeared to be out of health and frequently refused food for four days after this experiment.

A week after the preceding experiment the same dog weighed fifteen pounds, nnd was made to take a second dose of poison.

6. Antagonism between Tea, Coffee, Cocaine, Theine, Caffeine, and Guaranine on the one hand, and Morphia on the other. One hundred and seventy-six dogs, cats, rabbits, mice, and frogs

were under treatment, the expressions of whose sufferings are too horrible to peruse. The following extracts are only two out of many detailed descriptions:

Experiment 430.-Six grains of theine. Cat. Death. Postmortem examination.-Six grains of theine, dissolved in a drachm and a half of water, were injected under the skin over the back of a healthy cat weighing four pounds one ounce. In ten minutes the animal became very irritable and angry. Fifteen minutes later this excitement had increased; the animal had a watchful anxious appearance, prowled about, and when touched with a stick bit at it and growled. If any noise or motion were made it arched the back and made a hissing noise. The legs appeared weakened, aud although it could walk about it preferred sitting in a corner of the room. Its mouth and tongue were very red, and there was an abundant secretion of saliva, which constantly trickled out of its mouth. The cat defecated and micturated several times. Forty minutes later it continued in much the same condition. Salivation was profuse. Animal suffered tenesums, and it had a constant straining from the bowel of a clear fluid like mucus. The limbs, especially the posterior ones, were much weakened, but the animal could still run with difficulty. It could not jump; it made attempts to do so over a bench about two feet high, but failed. The breathing was laboured and irregular. The redness of the tongue and mouth, as well as the excessive irritability of the animal, had disappeared. It was quiet, lay in a corner, stupid and drowsy. It drank freely of water. Twenty minutes later it was prostrate and lay on its side, its limbs quite helpless. It paid no attention to a pinch of the toe or a blow on the tail with a stick. It seemed, however, to be intelligent, as its eyes watched every movement of the observer, and when the hands were clapped before its face it growled. The salivation and discharge from the bowel were excessive. Pupils were contracted and the breathing was laboured. Five minutes later the cat took a series of tetanic spasms and shortly afterwards died.

Experiment 433-Twelve grains of theine. Rabbit. Spinal cord exposed during life.-A healthy white rabbit, weighing two pounds two ounces was carefully fastened down on its belly. An incision was made through the skin along the upper part of the spine, about two inches in length, and the vertebral column exposed. By means of bone forceps and scissors portions of the vertebræ were removed so as to expose a piece of the spinal cord about a quarter of an inch in length. On touching the posterior columns with the point of a blunt needle the animal struggled violently and uttered loud cries.

With regard to the dogs, Dr. Bennett says, "These experiments were considered to be so unsatisfactory that they were abandoned.”

نا

7. The antagonism between the Extract of Calabar Bean and
Strychnine.

Twenty-four rabbits were tortured under this head.

8. The antagonism between Bromal Hydrate and Atrophina. Forty rabbits were tortured under this division, Dr. Bennett closing it by saying, "The experiments were not encouraging as all the animals died." The conclusion shows torture to six hundred and nineteen animals; and this is not enough Dr. Crichton Browne says (No. 743, British Medical Fournal, p. 409), and he proceeds therefore, to give picrotoxine with chloral hydrate to another large number of animals, which produces in them spasms in all the muscles of the body, and causes biting of the tongue, foaming at the mouth, &c., &c.

A concise answer to the question, what is poison? really seems more difficult than ever. Men gradually habituate themselves to the use of opium, tobacco, &c., till their daily dose is sufficient to kill from two to ten of their own species. Sheep have been known to consume unwholesome plants till their flesh becomes uneatable. Goats will feed on hemlock; hedgehogs swallow almost anything; and the common toad cares little for hydrocyanic acid. Ultimately we come to the acari, which appeared to enjoy a perfect immunity from the usual effects of a so-called poison; for here strychnine is only a poison in the same sense that starch would be a poison to a man, viz., in that it does not contain every element necessary for the reproduction of tissue.-Lancet, 2,015, p. 389.

Experiments on animals, already extensive and numerous, cannot be said to have advanced therapeutics much. I have seen Dr. Richardson give a pigeon enough opium to kill a strong man, and yet the bird was in no way affected; and I have heard of goats feeding on shag tobacco, and rabbits on belladonna leaves without taking any harm; yet from these experiments to infer that belladonna and tobacco were innocuous to man would be a grave error. Probably calomel given to a healthy dog might cause a temporary irritation and congestive obstruction of the animal's biliary apparatus, thus showing that calomel has an action over the liver; but I cannot see my way clear to infer the action of mercury on a sick man from what we see of its action on a healthy dog.-Dr. Thorowgood, Medical Times and Gazette, October 5, 1872.

Dr. Marcet said if he understood rightly Dr. Harley's meaning, his interesting papers showed that small doses of arsenic continued for a long time do produce poisonous effects. A question, however, was still open to discussion, viz. : how are we to account for the reported innocuous and even protective effects from the practice