Dept.] NATURAL SCIENCES OF PHILADELPHIA. 13 



June. 



I. Physiology. 



A paper was read entitled ' ' An Experimental Examination of the Physiologi- 

 cal effects of Sassy-Bark, the ordeal poison of the Western Coast of Africa ; by 

 S. Weir Mitchellj M. D., Lecturer on Physiology in the Philadelphia Medical 

 Association, and William A. Hammond, M. D., assistant Surgeon U. S. A.* 

 The following is an abstract of this paper : 



Sassy-Bark is derived from a tree described by Prof. Procter as Erythraph- 

 leum Judiciale, and in the Gardener's Dictionary of Mr. George Dow, as E. 

 Guineense. 



The bark occurs in pieces four inches and upwards in length, and half an 

 inch in thickness. It is of a deep red color, a slight odor and a marked as- 

 tringent, taste due to tannic acid. Both alcohol and water extract its active 

 principles. Mr. Procter failed to obtain from it any crystallizable alkaloid. 

 The preparations used by us were the dry alcoholic extract the alcoholic 

 tincture. 



The effects of sassy, when used as an ordeal poison, have been described by 

 Wilson, Winterbottom, Beecham and Christison, and are fully detailed in the 

 paper of which this is an abstract. 



The bark is given in aqueous infusion to the suspected person, who is re- 

 quired to drink large quantities, (several pints). If it produces emesis 

 the person is esteemed innocent ; but if he becomes giddy or confused, he is 

 considered guilty and is put to death. 



The sassy employed by us was first given to animals, and was finally 

 taken in considerable amount by the authors of this paper. 



As is usual in such examinations, frogs were first employed to test the pecu- 

 liar characters of the poison. 



Experiment. A large frog received under the skin of his back one drachm 

 of the tincture, previously warmed to drive off the alcohol. At the close of two 

 hours he had become very sluggish, and indisposed to move. He continued i:i 

 this condition during twenty-four hours, and then gradually recovered. 



Experiment. A frog received a similar dose in the same manner. His heart 

 wa3 then exposed, and attentively watched. It became more feeble as the frog 

 became sluggish, but no alteration in the number of its pulsations was observed. 

 In the course of two or three hours the frog became extremely torpid, hut was 

 still able to move when roughly irritated. A. second frog, which received 15 

 of the evaporated tincture in his back, and three grains of the extract in hi* 

 stomach, became inert like the others, but at the close of forty-eight hours was 

 again active, and on being replaced in water was well two days later. 



Still larger doses were tried upon other frogs, with so little result of interest, 

 that we turned at length to warm-blooded animals for more satisfacory and 

 definite conclusions. 



Experiment. A large rabbit took internally twelve grains of the dried extract. 

 Within an hour he became languid. At the close of two hours he would remain 

 in any strange position in which he might be carefully and gently placed. He 

 could be laid upon his side, or seated on his gluteal muscles in the corner, 

 without an attempt to escape or resist. If disturbed while in these strange 

 postures, or if placed in them suddenly and roughly, he instantly recovered In- 

 activity, and sought to escape, although his efforts were characterized by a 

 certain languor and difficulty which brought him to rest again almost im- 

 mediately. There was, at this period, no change in the pupils. His sensibility 

 was thought to be diminished, since his skin could be pinched sharply without 

 eliciting any expressions of pain. Six hours later no change was perceptible. 

 He wa9 motionless, unless disturbed, when he moved a few steps and then 



See the Charleston Medical Journal and Review, for November, 1859. 



1859.] 



