Dept,] 



NATURAL SCIENCES OF PHILADELPHIA. 15 



by rough shaking, it exhibited more activity. Fifty-five minutes after receiving 

 the sassy, the pigeon vomited very freely. Occasionally, the sleep, into which 

 it always relapsed, became so profound that it staggered and fell down. At the 

 end of two and a half hours the sleep had become comatose, and no agency mid 

 power to break it. Meanwhile the sensibility of the surface was impaired, the 

 respiration suffered, the temperature fell to 97 F. in the cloaca, and death 

 took place, without convulsions, three hours and a half from the time the first 

 dose was given. A second pigeon, similarly treated, except that the doses were 

 smaller, survived twenty-four hours and exhibited no symptoms of importance 

 which have not already been noted, except that at the time of death very slight 

 convulsive movements were seen. 



It was apparently plain, from the above detailed observations, that the sassy 

 bark contained a narcotic, or at least a stupefying principle, and it was also 

 probable that it possessed emetic activity. This, however, could scarcely be 

 inferred from the effect upon the cat or the pigeons, because these animals 

 vomit upon very slight provocation. The experiments upon animals had, how- 

 ever, convinced us that we were dealing with an agent that could be safely 

 used in large doses, and which was certainly not a potent poison. Moreover, it 

 was possible that the emetic effect, observed during its liberal use in half pint 

 doses for ordeal purposes, might be due to the bulk of the infusion, which the 

 person suspected was forced to take. Should this have proved correct, and its 

 emetic powders be really feeble when taken in moderation, we should possess a 

 drug in which co-existed narcotic and astringent activity. Such a remedy 

 would have had a certain value, and, considering the poverty of our pharmaco- 

 poeia in good narcotics, could not have been overlooked. We were also aware 

 that Dr. Thomas Savage, formerly a practising physician on the coast of Africa, 

 had made use of sassy bark in dysentery, but with what effect we were then 

 uninformed. 



With these considerations in view, we resolved to test still further the proper- 

 ties of sassy bark, by experimenting upon ourselves. Accordingly one of U3 

 took, fasting, three and a half grains of dried extract of sassy. Four hour? 

 later he took forty-five drops of the tincture. No effect was perceived, and 

 fourteen hours later he took, fasting, one hundred and twenty drops of the 

 tincture. These repeated doses had no effect, except to interrupt the regular 

 daily action of the bowels. Again, in five hours, another dose of one hundred 

 and twenty drops was taken. Up to this time no symptoms were developed 

 which could be referred with confidence to the effect of the sassy. On a second 

 occasion the same individual took, at one dose, one tablespoonful and a half of 

 the tincture of -sassy bark. This large dose was taken two hours after a light 

 meal, at about 9 p. m. Half an hour afterwards, while engaged in writing, he 

 experienced some little giddiness and slight frontal pain, with a sensation of 

 fulness, chiefly at the front of the head. None of these symptoms were of 

 marked intensity. About ten o'clock the tendency to sleep became so apparent 

 that he ceased writing, in which occupation he had been previously engaged, 

 and left the house in the hope that a brisk walk would lessen the effect of the 

 dose. This proved to be the case, but as the narcotic influence faded, a rapidly 

 increasing nausea took its place, and resulted in violent emesis at one a. m.. 

 five hours after the tincture was employed. In both instances the pulse fell 

 about fifteen beats below the normal standard. 



The effects of the sassy upon another of the authors of this paper is recorded 

 in the following statement: 



At - 11 a. m. he took four drachms of the saturated tincture of sassy. At the 

 time his pulse was ninety-one per minute. He experienced no unusual sensa- 

 tion till about 12 m., when slight dizziness ensued. At this time his pulse was 

 eighty-three. The narcotic influence was not increased, and at 1 p. m, the 

 pulse beat ninety-three. At this hour he took four additional drachms. At 2 

 p. m. his pulse had fallen to eighty, and' the sedative effect was very sensibly 



1859.] 



