88 Messrs. T. L. Brimton and J. Fayrer on, the [Jan. 22, 



body, and the skin removed. Each was then placed in a glass, and a 

 sufficient quantity of fresh ox-blood serum poured over it to cover it. 

 In one glass, the serum contained about 5 centigrams of cobra-poison 

 dissolved in about 20 cubic centims. of serum ; but, with this exception, all 

 the conditions under which the two legs were placed were exactly alike. 



July 19th. About 19 hours after the immersion of the legs in serum 

 their irritability was examined. 



The muscles of the leg in the pure serum did not contract at all when 

 the strongest irritation was applied to the sciatic nerve, but contracted 

 very vigorously when irritated directly. The muscles of the leg in the 

 poisoned serum were whiter than those of the other one. They had a 

 faint yellowish tinge, and were somewhat stiff. They did not contract in 

 the least when the strongest irritation by a Du-Bois coil was applied 

 either to them or the sciatic nerve. 



"When the poison is injected directly into the circulation, or is very 

 rapidly absorbed, so that the quantity circulating in the blood is large, it 

 destroys the irritability of the voluntary muscles rapidly, and, occasionally 

 at least, hastens in a most remarkable manner the occurrence of rigor 

 mortis. This is well seen in the Experiment XXV,, where rigor 

 mortis supervened in half an hour after the injection of the poison, while 

 the muscles of another animal killed at the same time by decapitation 

 retained their irritability for many hours. 



Experiment XXVII. 



May 8th, 1873. Eight thigh of a frog ligatured, with the exception of 

 the sciatic nerve. Animal poisoned by the introduction of some dried 

 cobra-poison dissolved in water into the lymph-sac of the back. After the 

 animal had become completely paralyzed, the gastrocnemii of the two 

 legs were irritated by an induced current (1 bichromate cell). 



Left leg (poisoned), distance of coil 13*5, contraction ; right, 24-0, con- 

 traction. 



Experiment XXVII (a). 



Another frog prepared in the same way gave at first : left leg (poisoned), 

 distance of coil 42-2, contraction ; right (ligatured), distance 21-0, con- 

 traction. 



After some time : left leg, distance 6-0, contraction ; right, distance 

 25-0, contraction. 



Some time later : left leg, distance 0, almost no contraction ; right 

 leg, distance 14'5, contraction. 



In this experiment, the poisoned muscle at first responded more readily 

 to the irritation than the one which had been deprived of blood by the 

 application of a ligature ; and this renders more apparent the effect of the 

 poison, in causing rapid diminution and final extinction of irritability in 

 the muscle to which it had access, since the other lost its excitability 

 very slowly. 



