REACTIONS OF THE SPOTTED NEWT 205 



it would seem that either the animal scents its food more through 

 the mouth than the nostrils, or that more of the cocaine found 

 entrance into the nasal chamber from the cotton held in the 

 mouth than entered through the nostrils when they were painted 

 with the solution. Later experiments indicate that the latter 

 is the case. This is assuming that in both cases the inhibition 

 was nervous rather than a general disturbance of the system. 

 The next experiment supports the view that the inhibition is 

 due to the effect of cocaine upon the nerves rather than a general 

 depression of the system. 



Experiment it. In this experiment five animals were used, 

 and all were treated in exactly the same way. They were re- 

 moved from the water and a wad of raw cotton wet with 5% 

 cocaine was held in the mouth for half a minute, then the nostrils 

 were painted with the same solution of cocaine for one to two 

 minutes. When returned to the water all of the animals were 

 more or less sluggish, four of them only slightly so, while the 

 fifth was decidedly sluggish. After the cocaine treatment, the 

 animals were subjected to a jet of acetic acid of a strength that 

 in normal animals would cause quick and generally violent re- 

 action, the jet being, of course, directed upon the anterior 

 region of the head. Since four of the five animals reacted in 

 practically the same manner, animal number 4 will be described 

 as a type. 



At 8.25 a. m., about five minutes after being returned to the 

 water, the animal failed to respond to an entire pipette full 

 of .25% acetic acid that was slowly squirted against its head. 

 At 8.55 a. m. it responded very slowly to .5% acetic acid simi- 

 larly used. At 9.10 a. m. it responded fairly quickly to .5% 

 acid, but still much more slowly than normal. At 9.45 and 

 10.45 A - M - the response was still about the same as at 9. 10 

 a. m. At 5. 00 p. m. of the same day the response to the .5% 

 acetic acid w r as as quick as in the normal animal, and the same 

 was true at 10.30 a. m. the next day. 



It may be possible, then, that the cocaine used in this way 

 inhibited the chemical sense in the nasal and oral mucous mem- 

 branes for a couple of hours, and during this time the slow and 

 feeble reactions were merely those due to the stimulation of 

 the skin over the head, which was little more sensitive than 

 that of the rest of the body. 



