342 RALPH S. LILLIE. 



but oxygen has no such effects on narcotized nerves; similar 

 observations were made by Nagai 1 on ciliated epithelium. There 

 is thus no recovery from asphyxia during narcosis, even with a 

 good supply of oxygen. Nerves subjected to prolonged narcosis 

 show the same physiological changes as after exposure to lack of 

 oxygen (Frohlich, 2 Boruttau 3 ) ; the rate of conduction is slowed, 

 the refractory period is prolonged, and repeated stimulation 

 causes definite fatigue-effects; oxygen then restores the normal 

 properties, but only in the absence of the anaesthetic. All of 

 the phenomena of asphyxia appear during narcosis even in the 

 presence of a good supply of oxygen, just as they do in an oxygen- 

 free atmosphere in the absence of the narcotic (Frohlich, Bondy, 4 

 Heaton). 5 Experiments by Ishikawa 6 on amoebae gave analogous 

 results; recovery from the inhibited or non-irritable condition, 

 whether due to simple lack of oxygen or to the presence of a 

 narcotic, requires the same condition, namely the presence of 

 free oxygen. Other forms of inhibition, such as the heat-paralysis 

 of the frog's central nervous system, are promoted both by lack 

 of oxygen and presence of narcotics (Winterstein) ; 7 i. e., anaes- 

 thesia acts in the same direction as lack of oxygen, an indication 

 that both conditions produce essentially the same physiological 

 effect. Mansfeld 8 found that in the absence of oxygen tadpoles 

 succumb more readily to anaesthesia than in its presence; the 

 same is true of simple protoplasmic streaming in plant cells at 

 temperatures of 30 and over (Zuckerkandl). 9 All of these facts 

 seem to indicate that lack of oxygen produces essentially the 

 same effects as anaesthesia; that the two actions are largely 

 interchangeable, and hence capable of summation. 



In general, however, it may be said, in criticism of such con- 

 clusions, that inhibition or prevention, under the influence of 

 narcotics, of physiological processes which require oxygen, does 



- 1 Nagai, Zeitschr. f. allg. Physiol., 1905, Vol. 5, p. 34. 



2 Frohlich, ibid., pp. 455, 468. 



3 Boruttau and Frohlich, P finger's Archiv, 1904, Vol. 105, p. 444. 



4 Bondy, Zeitschr. f. allg. Physiol., 1904, Vol. 3, p. 180. 

 6 Heaton, ibid., 1910, Vol. 10, p. 53. 



6 Ishikawa, ibid., 1912, Vol. 13, p. 339- 



7 Winterstein, ibid., 1905, Vol. 5, p. 342. 



8 Mansfeld, Pjliiger's Archiv, 1909, Vol. 129, p. 69. 



9 H. Nothmann-Zuckerkandl, Biochem. Zeitschr., 1912, Vol. 45, p. 412. 



