370 PROCEEDINGS OF THE ACADEMY OF 



Exp. 6. Exposed the gastrocnemii of the hind extremities of a 

 frog; the right was painted with a one-grain solution of conia. 

 In two minutes galvanism of the right gastrocnemius did not 

 cause it to contract, while. the left contracts on slight irritation. 

 In several hours, however, the right gastrocnemius regained its 

 power of responding to galvanic irritation. 



Exp. 1. Exposed the spinal cord of a frog, and applied to it in 

 the dorsal region a one-grain solution of conia at 11.39. 11.39|, 

 voluntary movements have ceased posteriorly ; irritation anteri- 

 orly causes no movements posteriorly, while irritation posteriorly, 

 though it causes movements posteriorly, will not cause move- 

 ments anteriorly. 11.39f, galvanization of the cord above the 

 point where the drug was applied causes movements anteriorly 

 but none posteriorly, while galvanization below the point of appli- 

 cation causes movements posteriorly ; thus proving that when 

 locally applied to the spinal cord entire loss of functional power 

 occurs at the point of application. 



The drug has a similar action on the nerve trunks, for when a 

 weak solution of the alkaloid was applied to the sciatic nerve of 

 a mouse or frog, galvanization of the nerve above the point of 

 application caused no contractions in the tributary muscles, but 

 if the nerve was galvanized below the point of application con- 

 tractions occurred in the tributary muscles. 



The following experiments show that when locally applied to 

 the brain of frogs conia produces immediate clonic convulsions ; 

 this is curious from the circumstance that ordinarily cerebral con- 

 vulsions do not occur in batrachians. 



Exp. 8. On a medium-sized frog, 5.41, a very weak solution of 

 conia injected on the brain causes spasms immediately, 5.45, gal- 

 vanization and mechanical irritation cause spasms all over the 

 body. 



Exp. 9. 6.30, a weak solution of conia was injected on the brain 

 of a medium-sized frog, producing immediate clonic convulsions. 

 6.33, spasms occur with every respiratory movement. 



Action on the Nervous System. 



On the Brain It has been announced by a number of investi- 

 gators that conium, like opium, produc.es sleep, but the drug has 

 no such hypnotic action. Reuling and Saltzer (Deuts. Klin. 1853, 

 Xo. 40) mention an experiment in which, ten minutes after the 



