30 



THE ALUMNI JOURNAL. 



WOORARA, TWENTY YEARS OLD, STILL EFFICACIOUS. 



By H. a. HAUBOLD, M. D., 

 Assistant to the Chair of Physiology, Bellevue Hospital Medical College. 



ON January 20th, 1894, Dr. John 

 Gonley, sent me a specimen of 

 woorara, together with a statement that 

 the poison had been in his possession for 

 twenty years, and a request that I deter' 

 mine whether it still retained its physio- 

 logical properties and what its effects 

 were. 



A mixture was made of one grain of the 

 powdered material with one fluid drachm 

 of water. It makes a dirty brown solu- 

 tion holding small particles of the un- 

 dissolved powder in suspension. 



The mixture was not filtered. 



A medium sized adult dog was em- 

 ployed as a subject. 



The hypoglossal nerve was exposed as 

 it curves through the submaxillary 

 triangle on its way to be distributed to 

 the muscles of the tongue, and stimulated 

 with a mild electrical current. 



This was accompanied by violent 

 movements of the tongue showing that 

 the excitability of the motor nerves was 

 intact. The woorara was then injected 

 into the left flank of the animal for which 

 a one drachm hypodermic syringe was 

 employed. 



The needle was of a sufficiently large 

 bore to allow of the passage of the undis- 

 solved particles. 



At the end of five (5) minutes the 

 animal's gait became staggery, the inco- 

 ordination being at first most marked in 

 the lower extremities. This was followed 

 by progressively increasing paralysis 

 (this also having its start in the lower 

 extremities), which slowly extended to 

 the other muscles until the paralysis was 

 complete. At the same time respiration 

 became slower and more superficial until 



at the end of fifteen (15) minutes the res- 

 piratory efforts ceased entirely. 



The heart's action was at first not af- 

 fected, but after a time became slower, 

 and this organ continued to act rythmic- 

 ally after respiration had entirely ceased. 



In order to test the action of this agent 

 on the heart, a bellows was inserted into 

 the trachea and artificial respiration thus 

 maintained for forty-five (45) minutes, at 

 the end of which time the heart's action 

 was of as good a character (although a 

 little slower) than at the beginning of the 

 observation. About twenty (20) minutes 

 after the administration of the drug the 

 hypoglossal nerve was again stimulated 

 with electric process but the excitability 

 of the nerve was entirely abolished. 



A singularly striking contrast to the 

 violent muscular contractions produced by 

 the stimulation applied before the intro- 

 duction of the woorara. 



The direct muscular excitability was 

 tested on the muscles in the neck and 

 found to be retained, even by an exceed- 

 ingly mild galvanic current, effecting both 

 an opening and a closing contraction. 



It would seem fair to deduce from this 

 observation that woorara does not lose its 

 effectiveness after being kept for a con- 

 siderable time (certainly years). That 

 there is a form of woorara that does not af- 

 fect the heart, nor interfere with the in- 

 hibitory action of the spinal accessory 

 nerve fibres contained in the pneumo- 

 ofastric's cordial branches. That this 

 strange poison paralyzes the motor 

 nerves completely, has no direct effect 

 upon the muscles themselves and that 

 it produces death by paralysis of respira- 

 tory organs. 



