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