NATURAL SCIENCES OF PHILADELPHIA. 393 



by Harley (loc. cit. p. 82) : it must be the result, as in the case of 

 opium, of a specific action on the gastro-intestinal apparatus. 



These symptoms are not exclusively canine, but they also occur 

 in man, as attempts at vomiting are recorded by Bennet (Ed. 

 Journ. Med. Sci. 1845) in case of poisoning by hemlock leaves, 

 and Schroff (Vierteljahrschr. f. Praktische Heilkunde, 1855), in 

 his experiments with conia on the human subject, records one 

 case in which there was actual vomiting. 



Action on the Glandular System. 



One of the first effects of a very large therapeutic dose of conia, 

 in about one-half of the writer's experiments, was to increase the 

 secretion of the salivary glands. This increase is not due to any 

 local action, as it occurs when the drug is injected into a vein or 

 into the peritoneum. 



As regards the drug's effect on the urinary secretion, my ex- 

 periments compel me to endorse the conclusion of Verigo (loc. 

 cit.), who asserts that " conia has no influence on the quantity or 

 quality of the urine." Casanbau (loc. cit.), however, believes that 

 in the beginning the secretion of the kidnejrs, like that of the sali- 

 vary glands, is increased. Probably this investigator was misled 

 through the fact that the animals voided their urine soon after a 

 large dose of the drug was administered, but this urination is due 

 to the spasmodic contractions of the muscular fibres of the bladder, 

 which almost always occurs. 



I have never observed any action on the skin, as evinced by 

 either an increase or a decrease in the amount of perspiration, 

 and, as other investigators are silent on this point, it is very 

 probable that its function remains unaffected. 



Conia's action on the biliary secretion has not yet been deter- 

 mined, but the circumstance, first noticed by Nega (Zeitschr. f. 

 Klin. Med. Breslau ; 1850, 1), and confirmed by Van Praag (loc. 

 cit.), that after death from conia-poisoning, the gall-bladder is 

 always found distended with bile, renders it probable that it in- 

 creases the biliary secretion. In all the post-mortem examinations 

 made by the writer on animals poisoned by conia, this distension 

 of the gall-bladder was invariably present. 

 26 



