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nd let its tail and wings fall limply on the ground. Another half a minute and with its legs bent under, as though sitting, it sought to raise and shake its drooping head. For an-instant it succeeded but the poor member wagged without energy (as happens to us when in travelling we get sleepy but have no place to repose ourselves) whilst its eyes now shut, and now wide open wore an expression of unconsciousness. About the fourth minute the animal was seized with violent convulsions and at the fifth it was quite dead. I made the same trial upon a middle-sized dog, wounding this also upon a leg in order not to touch a vital part. At first it seemed quite insensible to what I had done but after three or four minutes had passed it got very inquiet and sniffed the ground and everything that was around as if to find out what was the matter, turning round its head from time to time towards its thigh which it evidently felt was the seat of its uneasiness. It gave a jump, a prolonged shudder and then lay down. Once it feebly barked but when it made a second attempt it entirely failed. The cry was not one of pain but seemed to be a sound emitted under the impulse of profound bewilderment. [Illustration: Branch and fruit of the poisonous creeper "Legop". _p._ 212.] Its head rested for a moment upon its fore-legs but was soon lifted up as the animal rolled over on one side of its body which had the appearance of being paralyzed. Its eyes became fixed, expressionless. The body shivered and gave little starts but the head remained motionless, lying heavily on the ground, and the eyes in their glassy stare revealed the absence of all perception of the senses rather than pain or mortal anguish. At this point I turned my attention to its heart which was beating quickly and violently. It stopped an instant, then continued but very, very weakly whilst the whole body began to take a rigid form. A quarter of an hour after the inoculation of _legop_, the dog was dead. * * * * * If I do not mistake, the first and almost immediate effect of this poison is upon the nerve centres. For certain the blood remains unaltered, or at least no change is visible and the flesh of animals killed with _legop_ does not lose any of its flavour nor is there any danger in eating it. But I dare not speak with any precision about the nature of certain venomous products because where the vast field for scien
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