The acid is capable of passing through the unbroken skin, whereupon it instantly paralyses the sensory nerves.
" From the charnel-house of the Vienna cabinet," he exclaimed, " a pestilential air breathes on us, which dulls our nerves and paralyses the flight of our spirit."
At one time, as in the case of Blechingdon, they would perform strange exploits worthy of the most daring hussars; at another their speed and tenacity paralyses armies.
The poison of the sting is similar to snake-poison (Calmette), and rapidly paralyses animals which are not immune to it.
It is indicated in paralyses (chiefly functional), and is most valuable in the treatment of post-diphtheritic paralysis.
When rubbed into the skin with such substances as alcohol or glycerine, which are absorbed, atropine is carried through the epidermis with them, and in this manner - or when simply applied to a raw surface - it paralyses the terminals of the pain-conducting sensory nerves.
Hydrocyanic acid is a general protoplasmic poison, all the lower organisms being very susceptible to its action, while in the higher animals it speedily depresses or paralyses all forms of nerve tissue.
