175 APPENDIX. 



The frog was placed under a large glass funnel and jumped about, 

 a tap on the glass being sufficient to make it change its place. 



11-44 A.M. — Frog showed no inclination to move; when its back 

 was touched with a glass rod it made feeble attempts to move its 

 limbs ; some loss of power was evident, but there were no'twitchings 

 of the limbs or convulsive movements. 



11-46 A.M. — The frog did not move its limbs even when tapped 

 on the back ; the left leg appeared quite paralysed. 



11-50 A.M. — The limbs were quite lax, and might be placed in any 



position without the animal making any effort to move them. When 



placed on its back, it now and then made feeble attempts to move 



the right leg ; then the movements stimulated slight twitchiugs. 



After this, and until its death at 12 noon, it lay motionless, the only 



sign of vitality being an occasional gasp"; limbs flaccid, no convulsions. 



As a control experiment, another frog, a little larger, was injected 



with the same^ amount of brucine. Two minutes after the injection it 



Avas perfectly motionless ; there was evidently loss of voluntary power 



over the limbs. When placed on its back and touched, it made no 



effort to move, but slight twitchings of the limbs were noticed, which 



became more marked in about a couple of minutes. Touching the 



back, pinching the limbs, or even gentle tapping on the table, was 



now sufficient to produce rather feeble convulsive movements, but 



there was no spasm, except when thus regularly induced. The frog 



died about ten minutes after the injection. After death the limb 

 were not sti^ but rather flaccid. 



Many of the reactions we have described as heing afforded by 

 the alkaloid we have provisionally termed pseudobrucine were iden- 

 tical with those yielded by brucine; while, on the other hand, certain 

 reactions were quite different. The history of the drug shows that 

 it is employed as a domestic remedy in the treatment of a large 

 number of affections, but there is no e\^[denGe to indicate that it is 

 supposed to possess any toxic properties. When we are satisfied 

 that we have obtained the alkaloid in a pui^e state, its ultimate 



determined, (C. J. H 



) 



Oleander as a diuretic and heart-tonic. 



F. V. Oefele {Phann. Pr., Oct. 24, 1891, pp. 2-5) draws attention 

 to the action of this plant as a diuretic and heart-tonic in place of 



