Effects of Tobacco upon Animal Life.

the products of the vegetable kingdom.[1]
[Footnote 1: This is proved by applying it to these organs in infancy, among those children whose parents do
not use tobacco. Caspar Hausser, who was fed wholly on farinaceous food and water, from infancy to the age
of sixteen or seventeen years, was made sick to vomiting by walking for a "considerable time by the side of a
tobacco field."]
Dr. Franklin ascertained, that the oily material, which floats upon the surface of water, upon a stream of
tobacco smoke being passed into it, is capable, when applied to the tongue of a cat, of destroying life in a few
minutes.
Mr. Brodie applied one drop of the empyreumatic oil of tobacco to the tongue of a cat; it occasioned
immediate convulsions and an accelerated breathing. Five minutes after, the animal lay down on the side, and
presented, from time to time, slight convulsive movements. A quarter of an hour after, it appeared recovered.
The same quantity of the oil was applied again, and the animal died in two minutes.
In December, 1833, aided by several gentlemen of the medical class, and occasionally in the presence of other
individuals, I made a number of experiments upon cats and other animals, with the distilled oil of tobacco.
EXPERIMENT 1.
A small drop of the oil was rubbed upon the tongue of a large cat. Immediately the animal uttered piteous
cries and began to froth at the mouth.
In 1 minute the pupils of the eyes were dilated and the respiration was laborious. " 2-1/2 do. vomiting and
staggering. " 4 do. evacuations; the cries continued, the voice hoarse and unnatural. " 5 do. repeated attempts
at vomiting. " 7 do. respiration somewhat improved.
At this time a large drop was rubbed upon the tongue. In an instant the eyes were closed, the cries were
stopped, and the breathing was suffocative and convulsed. In one minute the ears were in rapid convulsive
motion, and, presently after, tremors and violent convulsions extended over the body and limbs. In three and
an half minutes the animal fell upon the side senseless and breathless, and the heart had ceased to beat.
Slight tremors of the voluntary muscles, particularly of the limbs, continued, more or less, for nineteen
minutes after the animal was dead. Those of the right side were observed to be more and longer affected thanthose of the left.
Half an hour after death the body was opened, and the stomach and intestines were found to be contracted and
firm, as from a violent and permanent spasm of the muscular coat. The lungs were empty and collapsed. The
left side of the heart, the aorta and its great branches were loaded with black blood. The right side of the heart
and the two cavæ contained some blood, but were not distended. The pulmonary artery contained only a small
quantity of blood. The blood was every where fluid.
EXPERIMENT 2.
A cat was the subject of this experiment. The general effects were very much like those in the last, excepting,
perhaps, that the oil operated with a little less energy. This cat was said to have lived for several years, in a
room almost perpetually fumigated with tobacco smoke. The history of the animal employed in Experiment 1,
was unknown.
EXPERIMENT 3.
Three drops of the oil of tobacco were rubbed upon the tongue of a full-sized, but young, cat. In an instant the
pupils were dilated and the breathing convulsed; the animal leaped about as if distracted, and presently took
two or three rapid turns in a small circle, then dropped upon the floor in frightful convulsions, and was dead in
two minutes and forty-five seconds from the moment that the oil was put upon the tongue.
EXPERIMENT 4.
To the tongue of a young and rather less than half-grown cat, a drop of the oil of tobacco was applied. In
fifteen seconds the ears were thrown into rapid and convulsive motions,--thirty seconds fruitless attempts to
vomit. In one minute convulsive respiration; the animal fell upon the side. In four minutes and twenty seconds
violent convulsions. In five minutes the breathing and the heart's motion had ceased. There was no evacuation
by the mouth or otherwise. The vital powers had been too suddenly and too far reduced to admit of a reaction.
The tremors, which followed death, subsided first in the superior extremities, and in five minutes ceased
altogether. The muscles were perfectly flaccid.
EXPERIMENT 5.
In the tip of the nose of a mouse, a small puncture was made with a surgeon's needle, bedewed with the oil of
tobacco. The little animal, from the insertion of this small quantity of the poison, fell into a violent agitation,
and was dead in six minutes.
EXPERIMENT 6.
Two drops of the oil were rubbed upon the tongue of a red squirrel. This animal, so athletic as to render it
difficult to secure him sufficiently long for the application, was in a moment seized with a violent agitation of
the whole body and limbs, and was perfectly dead and motionless in one minute.
EXPERIMENT 7.
To the tongue of a dog rather under the middle size, five drops of the oil of tobacco were applied. In forty-five
seconds he fell upon the side, got up, retched, and fell again. In one minute the respiration was laborious, and
the pupils were dilated. In two minutes the breathing was slow and feeble, with puffing of the cheeks. In three
minutes the pupils were smaller but continually varying. The left fore leg and the right hind leg were affected
with a simultaneous convulsion or jerk, corresponding with the inspiratory motions of the chest. This
continued for five minutes.In nine minutes alimentary evacuations; symptoms abated; and the animal attempted to walk. At ten minutes
two drops of the oil were applied to the tongue. Instantly the breathing became laborious, with puffing of the
cheeks; pupils much dilated. The convulsive or jerking motions of the two limbs appeared as before, recurring
regularly at the interval of about two seconds, and exactly corresponding with the inspirations. In twelve
minutes the pupils were more natural; slight frothing at the mouth, the animal still lying upon the side. At this
time a drop of the oil was passed into each nostril. The labor of the respiration was suddenly increased, the
jaws locked.
In twenty-two minutes no material change; the jaws were separated and five drops of the oil were rubbed on
the tongue. In one minute the pupils were entirely dilated, with strong convulsions. In one and an half
minutes, in trying to walk, the animal fell. In three minutes the eyes rolled up, and convulsions continued. In
six minutes, the plica semilunaris so drawn as to cover half the cornea. In seven minutes, slight frothing at the
mouth. In forty minutes the inspirations were less deep, the convulsions had been unremitted, the strength
failing. From this time he lay for more than half an hour nearly in the same state; the strength was gradually
sinking, and as there was no prospect of recovery, he was killed. In this case, the true apoplectic puffing of the
cheeks was present the greater part of the time.