140 Royal Society : — 



markable that, by the action of permanganate of potash, a com- 

 paratively considerable quantity of benzoic acid was obtained. 



Bechamp mentions nothing of the occurrence of benzoic acid 

 in the oxidation products of albumen ; and it must hence be 

 assumed that he has mistaken it for nitrate of urea. And the 

 fact that the alcoholic solution of the product of oxidation gave 

 a precipitate not only with nitric acid, but also with oxalic acid 

 and with protonitrate of mercuiy, would quite agree with this 

 assumption. 



XVI. Proceedings of Learned Societies. 



ROYAL SOCIETY. 



[Continued from p. 69.] 



Dec. 17, 1857. — Major-General Sabine, R.A.,Treas.andV.P., in the 



Chair. 



I^HE following commmiication was read : — 

 "Observations on the Poison of the Upas Antiar." By Prof. 

 Albert Kolliker, of Wurzburg. '^ 



During my stay in England, in the autumn of 18.57, I was so 

 fortunate as to acquire the rare poison of the famous Antiaris toxi- 

 caria (Lesch.), with which no experiments have been tried since the 

 time of Magendie, Brodie, Horsfield, and Schnell and Emmert (1809- 

 1815). I owe my specimens of the Antiar poison to my friend Prof. 

 Christison, of Edinburgh, Avho had it from Borneo, and to Dr. Hors- 

 field, of London, who collected it himself during his stay at Java in 

 the beginning of this century ; and as both specimens were fully 

 active — as some preliminary experiments made in company with my 

 friends Dr. Sharpey and Dr. Allen Thomson showed — I thought 

 it well worth while to devote some time to the study of the poison, 

 and to try to elucidate its manner of action on the animal organism. 

 The following are the principal results which I obtained in my expe- 

 riments with frogs, and I hope that they will not be deemed unworthy 

 of notice by those who take an interest in the physiological action 

 of poisons in general. 



The Antiar, like most other poisons, acts from the intestinal canal, 

 and from wounds ; but it must be remarked, that it is much more ener- 

 getic and rapid when introduced into a wound. The symptoms which 

 are observed in frogs, in the latter case, are the following : — First of 

 all, the voluntary movements become less energetic, and at length 

 cease totally, 30 to' 40 minutes after the introduction of the poison 

 (after 21™ min. and l*" 21" max.). Then follows a time in which 

 reflex movements may be caused by stimulating the skin ; but this 

 faculty also is lost very soon, viz. at from 50 to 60 minutes (at 33™ 

 min. and 85"" max.) ; and the animals die without the shghtest 

 trace of convulsions or tetanic spasm. If now the frogs are opened, 

 we find that, without any exception, the heart has ceased to beat. 

 The auricles are dilated, the ventricle corrugated, rather small, and 

 generally red, as if blood had been extravasated into its muscular 

 parietes ; but very soon the exposure of the heart to the air causes 



