THE ACTION OF VANADINE. 605 



Excessive doses of vanadine produce a series of grave symptoms, 

 but particularly nausea, vomiting of food or glairy material followed 

 by blood, diarrhoea, soon succeeded by blood-stained evacuations, 

 lively thirst, apoplectiform attacks, acute pain, shown by groaning or 

 crying, slowing of the circulation and respiration, attacks of dyspnoea, 

 and finally depression of temperature. I noted all these troubles in a 

 dog weighing thirteen pounds three ounces which received five and a 

 half fluid drachms of vanadine in the saphenous vein. 



I have used vanadine in the treatment of certain diseases in 

 the horse and dog, principally pneumonia, the abdominal form of 

 influenza, distemper and its complications, wasting diseases, and 

 in persistent loss of appetite due to gastro-intestinal atony. I have 

 injected it into the subcutaneous connective tissue in doses of fifteen 

 to eighty minims in the dog, and of five and a half to seven fluid 

 drachms in the horse. At the present time I have not collected 

 sufficiently numerous statistics to show how much should be given in 

 the treatment of acute diseases, but in such affections, and particu- 

 larly in pneumonia, where the local lesion is far from possessing the 

 importance attributed to it, where the morbid symptoms are due 

 to diminution in the aerating surface, to auto-intoxication, to 

 diminished elimination, or to the transformation of poisons, vanadine, 

 like every agent possessing oxidising properties, appears to have a 

 favourable effect. Injected in small doses repeated daily, or every 

 second or third day, it acts as a tonic, increases or restores the appe- 

 tite, stimulates nutrition, favours assimilation, arouses the forces, and 

 improves the condition of emaciated animals. It may, perhaps, prove 

 of service in the treatment of chronic affections with loss of strength 

 or wasting. 



I have also studied its effects on guinea-pigs rendered tuberculous 

 by injecting cultures of canine origin emulsified in sterilised water. 

 Eight guinea-pigs were thus inoculated on the gth August, i8g8, in the 

 subcutaneous connective tissue of the flank, and a second series of 

 eight guinea-pigs in the peritoneum. Two animals of each series were 

 preserved as controls ; the others received every third or fourth day" a 

 hypodermic injection of a few drops up to fifteen minims of vanadine. 

 These injections were begun on the 17th August, and continued until 

 the 15th October. 



During the course of the research five guinea-pigs died ; three 

 inoculated in the peritoneum — two under treatment, and one control ; 

 two inoculated under the skin — one treated and one control. On 

 post-mortem examination all showed more or less generalised lesions, 

 depending on the time which had elapsed since inoculation. In the 



