N. MATERIA MEDICA, THERAPEUTICS, AND HYGIENE.587 



and a slight acceleration of the beating of the heart, after the 

 slumber the animal returning to its normal condition. Q B, 

 March 13, 1872, 1292. 



PHYSIOLOGICAL ACTION OF CARBOLIC ACID. 



The physiological and chemical action of carbolic acid upon 

 the animal organism has lately been the subject of a memoir 

 by Salkowski. According to this. author, it causes irritation 

 when applied, increasing the reflex excitability of the spinal 

 cord, and producing convulsions similar to those occasioned 

 by strychnine. These symptoms are accompanied by paral- 

 ysis in frogs, but not in rabbits. The respiratory nervous' 

 centre is first stimulated, both directly and through the vagi, 

 and respiration is quickened ; but afterward the centre be- 

 comes paralyzed, the breathing stops, and death ensues. The 

 beats of the heart are rendered slow in frogs by large doses, 

 but are quickened in man by small doses. Carbolic acid is 

 absorbed as such, and can be detected in the blood. It is 

 partly excreted unchanged, and partly oxidized in the sys- 

 tem, yielding oxalic acid, which is found in the blood. 



Another writer, in speaking of this substance, remarks that 

 the general effect when applied to animals is to cause great 

 dilatation of the blood-vessels, weak respiration, and a lower- 

 ing of the temperature. 21 A, July, 1872, 627. 



ATEOPIA INJECTION AN ANTIDOTE TO OPIUM. 



Dr. James Johnson, of Shanghai, contributes an important 

 article to the Medical Times and Gazette upon the effect of 

 atropine as an antidote to opium, and details the circum- 

 stances of sixteen cases in which this substance was injected 

 subcutaneously for this purpose. The result was that ten re- 

 covered and six died. It is probable that all the cases would 

 have been fatal but for the remedy thus employed. 20 A, 

 September*], 1872, 268. 



EFFECTS OF A SUPEROXYGENATED ATMOSPHERE ON ANIMALS. 



In a communication, by Birt, upon the result of certain ex- 

 periments upon animals kept in a superoxygenated atmos- 

 phere, it is stated that birds succumb whenever the propor- 

 tion of carbonic acid generated amounts to twenty-five per 

 cent., while dogs require thirty-five per cent, for a similar fa- 



