- gous results; but the animals he operated on did not die for half an
hour or upwards.[1]
MM. Chevallier and Lassaigne have discovered in the seeds an active principle called cytisin, a nauseous, bitter, brownish-yellow, neutral, uncrystallizable substance, of which small doses killed various animals amidst vomiting and convulsions, and eight grains taken by man in four doses brought on giddiness, violent spasms, and frequency of the pulse, lasting for two hours, and followed by exhaustion.[2]
A great number of Brown's division Papilionaceæ of the present natural family probably possess similar properties.
CHAPTER XLI.
OF POISONING WITH ALCOHOL, ETHER, AND EMPYREUMATIC OILS.
The last group of the narcotico-acrids comprehends alcohol, ether, and the oleaginous products of combustion. Of Poisoning with Alcohol.
Of its Action on Animals, and Symptoms in Man.—Alcohol has been generally believed, since the experiments of Sir B. Brodie,[3] to act on the brain through the medium of the nerves, and to do so without entering the blood. This may be doubted. At least in some experiments performed several years ago by Dr. C. Coindet and myself it appeared not to act so swiftly, but that absorption might easily have taken place before its operation began. At all events, through whatever channel it may operate, there is no doubt that it enters the blood; for in man the breath has a strong smell of spirit for a considerable time after it is swallowed; and it has been found in the tissues and secretions after death from large doses. Professor Orfila found that alcohol is a violent poison when injected into the cellular tissue; and that it produces through that channel the same effects as when taken into the stomach.[4] In the course of our experiments Dr. C. Coindet and I found that it acted with great rapidity when injected into the cavity of the chest.
Authors who have treated of the action of alcohol and spirituous liquors on man, have distinguished three degrees in its immediate effects.
1. When the dose is small, much excitement and little subsequent depression are produced.
2. When the effect is sufficiently great to receive the designation of poisoning, the symptoms are more violent excitement, flushed face,
