ACTION ON THE BOWELS AND SECRETION. 69 



occasion, and nothing (except perhaps a little mucus) was 

 ejected. Alter taking 30 milligrams more, during the course 

 of the next day, the vomiting recurred on the morning of the 

 17th ; and on this occasion I vomited some bilious matter, liquid, 

 and resembling somewhat yolk of egg, and the crampy contrac- 

 tion was less marked. Dr. Faure says that sometimes the con- 

 vulsions seem directed towards the intestines, and after contrac- 

 tions of the limbs, &c., such as he describes before vomiting, a 

 glairy, greenish substance, often tinged with blood, is expelled 

 per anum. In horses there is no vomiting,* and the stools are 

 first natural, then covered by mucus, and gradually becoming 

 softer, are first pasty and then liquid, blackish, and foetid. This 

 blackish colour may be owing, however, to the colouring matter 

 of the digitalis. 



On the morning of the 17th March, shortly after vomiting, I 

 had a loose stool, but no persistent diarrhoea, and in small doses 

 it seems to produce constipation, and this is occasionally the case 

 even when there is a fatal result.f 



The action of digitalis on the intestinal canal is not merely 

 local, for it produces it quite as certainly when introduced into 

 the subcutaneous tissue or injected into the veins. The pain in 

 the epigastrium, which I felt after the vomiting passed off, 

 remained for several days, and just as it was going away it was 

 succeeded by severe pain in the left side, apparently in the 

 descending colon. At first I was afraid it was inflammatory ; 

 but when taken in connection with the peculiar form of the 

 stool passed on the 20th March, which was that of small round 

 pellets, like those of rabbits, I am now disposed to attribute it 

 to spasmodic contraction of some part of the intestines similar 

 to that which I think occurred in the stomach. 



On Secretion. — On the Saliva — When digitalis is taken in 

 rather large doses, there is occasionally a feeling of dryness in 

 the mouth,J along with some salivation,§ but it is not con- 



* Bouley and Rejnal, op. cit. 



+ Case related by Dr. Mazel, Gazette des Il6j)Uaux {vide JEdin. Med. Journ., 

 18 J4-5, p. 170). 



X Ca^e of Daniel G-. 



§ Chi-istison, ' On Poisons,' p. 887, and Henrv, quoted bj Holland, Med. 

 H'otes and Hejlecf., p. 555. 



