orting to cure certain diseases or produce abortion is made an
offence. A register of proprietary medicines, etc., is established. The
object is to protect the public against quack remedies.

=Notification of Poisoning.=--Every case of poisoning which occurs in
any industry (lead, arsenic, anthrax, etc.) must be notified by the
medical attendant to the Chief Inspector of Factories (Factory and
Workshops Act, 1895).

III.--ACTION OF POISONS; CLASSIFICATION OF POISONS

=Action of Poisons.=--They may act either locally or only after
absorption into the system.

1. _Local Action_, as seen in (a) corrosive poisons; (b) irritant
poisons, causing congestion and inflammation of the mucous
membranes--_e.g._, metallic and vegetable irritants; (c) stimulants or
sedatives to the nerve endings, as aconite, conium, cocaine.

2. _Remote Action._--This may be of reflex character, as seen in the
shock produced by the pain caused by corrosive poisons, or the poison
may exert a special action on certain structures, as belladonna on the
cells of the brain, strychnine on the motor nerve cells of the spinal
cord.

3. _In Both Ways._--Certain poisons, as carbolic or oxalic acids, act in
this way.

Age, idiosyncrasy, tolerance, and disease, all exert modifying
influences on the action of a poison. The form in which the poison is
swallowed and the quantity also determine its action. In the gaseous
form, poisons act most rapidly and fatally. When in solution and
injected hypodermically, they also act very rapidly. In the solid form
they act as a rule slowly, and may even set up vomiting, and so may be
entirely ejected by vomiting. Poisons act most energetically when the
stomach is empty. If taken when the stomach already contains food,
solution and absorption may be greatly delayed.

Some poisons are cumulative in their action, and thus, even if
infinitesimal doses be swallowed each day, there is a certain amount of
storage in the tissues (though a certain percentage of the poison is
being constantly eliminated), and at last symptoms of poisoning show
themselves.

=Classification of Poisons.=--As an aid to memory, the following
classification is perhaps the best:

I. _Inorganic._

1. Corrosive acids and alkalies, and caustic salts (carbolic and
oxalic acids also).
2. Irritant--practically all the metals and the metalloids (I. Cl.
Br. P.).

II. _Organic._

{ Animal--venomo