THE JOURNAL OF PHARMACOLOGY. i 55 



A Study of the Physiological Action of Hydrochlorate of Eucaine. — 



In the Bulletin of Academy of Medicine of the Royal Belgium, 

 No. 4, 1897, Ver Eecke, after a full experimental study of the physiologi- 

 cal action of hydrochlorate of eucaine, sums up the work on which he has 

 been engaged as follows: (1) Hydrochlorate of eucaine in the frog de- 

 termines successively excitations, convulsions and paralysis; the latter is 

 of peripheral origin. The return to the normal state is accompanied by 

 convulsions, and later by hyperexcitability. The fatal dose is 0.16 grammes 

 per kilogramme. (2) In the warm-blooded animals hydrochlorate of eu- 

 caine primarily produces excitation, which is followed by convulsions, and 

 finally death from asphyxia occurs. There is no paralyzant dose. The 

 fatal close in the guinea-pig is from 0.049 to 0.052 grammes per kilo- 

 gramme. There is no cumulative action of the poison; on the contrary, 

 the organism may accustom itself to increasing doses of the drug. Co- 

 caine has twice the toxic action which is possessed by eucaine. (3) Hydro- 

 chlorate of eucaine acts on the heart principally by paralyzing the intra- 

 cardiac motor centre; secondarily it alters the muscular fibres of the 

 heart. (4) Hydrochlorate of eucaine lowers the blood-pressure by diminish- 

 ing the peripheral resistance. (5) Hydrochlorate of eucaine directly stimu- 

 lates the respiratory centre in the medulla, The paralysis of the respira- 

 tory centre in cases of fatal poisoning is not the result of the direct action 

 of poison, but is clue to asphyxia, which, in its turn, is caused by an ex- 

 cess of carbon monoxide in the blood. (G) Eucaino increases diuresis, ac- 

 celerates nitrogenous, phosphorous and chlorous metabolism; it produces 

 glycosuria, but only during the presence of intense convulsions. (7) Hydro- 

 chlorate of eucaine does not appear to eliminate itself by the kidneys; on 

 the other hand, it probably undergoes a chemical decomposition in the 

 economy. (8) Hydrochlorate of eucaine, instilled in the conjunctival sac, 

 first produces anesthesia of the conjunctiva., and finally of the cornea, at 

 the same time that it rapidly lowers the intraocular pressure. (9) Hydro- 

 chlorate of eucaine reduces the vitality of the red blood corpuscles, and 

 produces fatty degeneration of the heart and of the involuntary muscles. 

 (10) Chloral hydrate diminishes or stops the convulsions produced by eu- 

 caine. Chloralization will allow the administration of doses of eucaine 

 which are beyond the fatal limit. (11) The antagonism between hydro- 

 chlorate of eucaine and chloral hydrate is not reciprocated. 



The "R" Tuberculin.— Slawyk of Heubners clinic (Deut. Med. Woch., 

 July, 1897) reports upon fifty injections of the new tuberculin. One child 

 received twenty-three, another twenty-one, and the two remaining ones 

 two injections. The smallest quantity injected was 1-4,000 milligramme, 

 and the largest six milligrammes. Full details are given of the first two 



