Aug. 17, 1876] 



NATURE 



339 



January rain fell in considerable quantities, and both the 

 collectors were laid up for many days with fever and 

 ague, which retarded collecting, but altogether about 450 

 skins of birds were obtained from a radius of about thirty 

 miles inland from Port Moresby. In the immediate 

 neighbourhood of Port Moresby birds were plentiful, but 

 the beautiful Bird of Paradise {P. ra^giana) is only 

 found in the thick forests on the mountains of the interior. 

 Parrakeets, parrots and cockatoos, pigeons and doves, 

 were numerous among the jungle, and the belts of tall 

 trees along the rivers Laroki and Vetura. The farthest 

 point reached inland was Munikaira, situated about thirty 

 miles to the north-east, the difficulty in procuring natives 

 as carriers preventing Mr. Stone from proceeding further; 

 at this point he made a camp for several days, but the 

 wet season and consequent unhealthiness of the place 

 precluded further exploration. 



The following birds appear to be undescribed : — 

 ALbircedus stonii. Stone's Cat-bird, like jE. btiscoides, of 

 N.W. New Guinea, but distinguished by a black head 

 and unspotted abdomen. Hab. Laroki River. 



Diccctim rubro-coronatum (Red-crowned Flower-pecker). 

 Although having a red spot on the breast, like D. vul- 

 netatum, D. schistaceiceps, &c., this species differs from 

 them all in having the back purplish, with a scarlet crown 

 and rump. I cannot find any species agreeing with it. 

 Hab. Port Moresby. 



JanthcE7ias rawlmsoni, closely allied to J.hypcenochrous, 

 but differing in its crown being of a ruddy violet, the 

 under tail-coverts being black, and the under-surface also 

 ruddy violet, without the strong chestnut appearance of /. 

 hypccnochrous, Hab. Laroki River, 



R. BOWDLER ShARPE 



ABSTRACT REPORT TO ''NATURE'' ON EX- 

 PERIMENTA TION ON ANIMALS FOR THE 

 ADVANCE OF PRACTICAL MEDICINE' 

 VI. 



Experimentaiio7i with Nitrite ef Amyl. 



N the progress of scientific therapeutics no addition to 

 the curative resources of medicine has of late at- 

 tracted more attention than the nitrite of amyl. This 

 agent is now one of the useful agents in the hands of the 

 physician, and, what is most to the purpose, it is one of 

 the most useful for relieving the cruellest and painfullest 

 diseases. The discovery of the properties it possesses 

 resulted in the purest way from experimental study, the 

 record of which I am entitled to write as the one who 

 introduced the agent into medicine, defined its mode of 

 action, and thereby determined its place in the Hsts of 

 curative chemical substances. 



Nitrite of amyl was discovered by Balard thirty years 

 ago. It was examined afterrt'ards by Kieckher. It was 

 made by the action of nitrous acid on amylic alcohol, 

 and the vapour of it was said to produce headache when 

 it was inhaled. Many years passed before any further 

 observation was made upon the substance, and indeed, 

 Gregory, in his edition of " Organic Chemistry," published 

 in 1852, merely refers, and that incidentally, to the nitrate 

 of amyl. He passes over the nitrite in silence. 



The observation that the vapour of nitrite of amyl 

 causes headache, or rather a sense of fulness of the head 

 than headache, rested, I believe, on the observations of 

 Rieckher, and was not improved upon until Prof. Guthrie, 

 of Edinburgh, and now of the School of Mines, London, 

 noticed, while distilling the nitrite, the further facts that 

 the vapour, after being inhaled, induces flushing of the face, 

 rapid action of the heart, a peculiar breathlessness such 

 as occurs from fast running, and disturbance of cerebral 

 action. These facts, published by the learned professor, 

 ]3ecame known to Mr. Morison, a dentist practising in 



' Continued from p. 291, 



I 



Edinburgh. Mr. Morison thought that the vapour of 

 nitrite of amyl might be a powerful stimulant, and might 

 be made use of in cases of syncope and exhaustion. 

 He brought a specimen of the compound to London, and 

 placed it before the College of Dentists, of which he was 

 a member. The Council of that Institution thereupon 

 submitted the specimen to mc for investigation and re- 

 port, with the request that I would fully inquire into its 

 physiological and therapeutical properties by experiment. 



The first public record of my researches, commenced 

 in this manner, was read to the physiological section of 

 the British Association for the Advancement of Science 

 at the meeting of the Association held at Newcastle-on- 

 Tyne in 1863. It is unfortunate that by some accident 

 the original paper as it was read at the meeting was not 

 included in the volume of Transactions of the Associa- 

 tion. A short and fair abstract of it was, however, pub- 

 lished in the Medical Times and Gazette (Sept. 26, 1863, 

 pp. 334-5). The first remarkable effect I observed upon the 

 living body from the vapour of the nitrite was the peculiar 

 redness of the skin. On the face a deep blush was excited 

 by inhalation of the vapour, which blush soon became a 

 perfect crimson. With this there was a rapid increase in 

 the motion of the heart, and following upon the same there 

 was quickened respiration and panting. These observa- 

 tions, which resembled those noted by Prof. Guthrie, were 

 taken in a systematic manner from symptoms produced 

 on myself. A piece of paper was rolled into the form of a 

 funnel, the nitrite was dropped into the open mouth of 

 the funnel, and then I inhaled vapour from the funnel 

 until distinct objective and subjective symptoms were re- 

 cognised. Dr. Gibb, afterwards known as Sir George 

 Duncan Gibb, took notes of these signs as they were 

 developed in me, and then he himself inhaled while I re- 

 corded symptoms. Afterwards Mr. Kempton, a member 

 of the Council of the College of Dentists, submitted him- 

 self to experiment. The result was the confirmation of 

 certain very extraordinary phenomena induced by the 

 nitrite, but what the nature of those phenomena could 

 be was unknown. One thing was certain, that here was 

 an agent of great potency in its action on the animal 

 economy, and therefore of promise as an agent for cure. 

 The question was what disease would it cure or alleviate .' 

 Towards the relief of what class of human maladies could 

 it be applied ? 



I should have been well content if I could have pursued 

 this inquiry solely by observation on man. But soon I 

 found that the experimental pursuit on the human animal 

 was far too dangerous a risk to be ventured upon. An 

 enthusiastic adventurous experimentalist in my laboratory 

 made a few inhalations too many, and well nigh paid the 

 penalty with his life. The rapid action of his heart was 

 followed by confusion of the senses and by sudden prostra- 

 tion, and extreme pallor and faintness from which there 

 was not a safe recovery for two hours, nor a complete 

 recovery for two days. The only lesson taught by this 

 experience was that the original idea of using nitrite of 

 amyl for the cure of syncope was false. All else was as 

 dark as ever, and if I had had no other means of research 

 at command, I should have laid this now valuable remedy 

 aside as a dangerous substance, a substance not to be 

 added to the armoury of practical medicine. 



In this dilemma it seemed to be justifiable to test the 

 action of the agent on animals inferior to man. 



The first point to be ascertained was whether this sub- 

 stance acted after the manner of an anaesthetic. Animals 

 therefore of different classes, frogs, guinea pigs, cats, and 

 rabbits, were subjected to its vapour as I had been ; but 

 the inhalation in their case was carried further, and they 

 were allowed to pass into insensibility. The insensibility 

 appeared to be death, and in the warm-blooded animals 

 was death. The consciousness of external impressions 

 remained until the moment of collapse, then there 

 was insensibility, but then also in the warm bloods the 



