Academy of Science in Paris. 565 



New Remedy. At the same meeting, M. Jumeret Perrault, of 

 Neufchatel, announced that he had discovered in the mountains a 

 plant which affords a sovereign remedy in phthisical and pulmonary 

 complaints. He offers to supply it at fifteen sous (sevenpence half, 

 penny) per pacquet. From the description it appears to be a species 

 of asplenium. 



Action of Oil of Turpentine, Opium, fyc. on the Nervous System. 

 At the same meeting M. Flourens detailed the results of a series 

 of experiments which he had made on the action of the essential oil 

 of turpentine, opium, and alcohol, when applied to different 

 parts of the brain. The operation was performed on rabbits, the 

 cranium and dura mater having been previously removed; in all the 

 experiments he took care to renew the substances as soon as they 

 disappeared from the surface of the organ by absorption or evapora- 

 tion. The oil of turpentine applied to the lobes of the brain, in a 

 certain time produced an agitation, with occasional intervals of re- 

 pose. Sometimes the animal leaped forward, and at others turned 

 round in a spiral direction. During the paroxysms the animal ap- 

 peared in a state of furious madness, and neither saw nor heard, 

 but in the intervals of repose the faculties of sight and hearing ap- 

 peared uninjured. On applying the oil of turpentine to the cere- 

 bellum, a strong tendency to run and leap was observed. The ef- 

 fects of alcohol were similar, but less violent, never producing the 

 circumgyration. Liquid opium applied to the lobes of the brain in 

 a very short time produced an insensibility or torpor, which continued 

 even when the animal was pinched. A tension of the anterior limbs 

 sometimes occurred to such a degree as to push the body back, so 

 as to turn it over on its back. Opium, when applied to the cere- 

 bellum, produced an overthrow of the equilibrium, so that the 

 animal could only move by dragging itself along on its abdomen. 

 Having remarked that the involuntary movement produced by the 

 oil of turpentine tended to carry the animal forward, while that 

 produced by the opium carried it backwards, M. Flourens applied 

 both together, and found that, to a certain extent, these contrary ef- 

 fects neutralized each other. The effects produced by the opium 

 appeared to resemble those produced by the successive removal of 

 different parts of the brain, while those of the oil of turpentine and 

 alcohol were analogous to what might be supposed to result from 

 an over repletion (hypertrophe) of the different parts of the brain. 



Acupuncturation of the Arteries. At the meeting of the 14th of 

 February, M. Velpeau suggested the acupuncture of arteries as a 

 means which might generally be advantageously substituted for 

 ligature. 



Affections of the Vocal Organs. On the 7th of March M. 

 Majendie made a very favourable report on a memoir presented by 

 VOL. I. MAY, 1831. 2 P 



