EFFECT ON KEFLEX ACTION. 345 



gramme (15 J gvs.), an amount wliicli is equivalent to 72 grammes 

 (2^ oz.) of the extract, or 2-^ lb. of the root for a man weighing 

 150 lb. The convulsions which occurred in Experiment IX were 

 in all probabiHty due to embolism of the puhnonary artery and 

 not to the action of the Condurango. The statement of Gianuzzi 

 and Bufalini* that Condurango has a convulsant action like 

 strychnia probably depends on a mistaken misinterpretation of 

 the results of experiments like that of Experiment IX, although 

 I cannot be certain on this point, as I have never been able to 

 see their original paper. 



It has no paralysing action, and apparently no action of any 

 kind on voluntary muscles or motor nerves, as the movements 

 of the animals weie unaffected by its administration. 



Effect of Condurango on Befle): Action. 



As Condurango produces no apparent effect, and as Dr. Joseph 

 Xavier Eguigusen states that " it cannot be administered many 

 days in succession because in some persons nervous phenomena 

 of importance supervene," it seemed possible that its action 

 might resemble that of quinine. 



The following experiments were therefore undertaken in order 

 to ascertain whether it had, like quinine, the power of diminish- 

 ing reflex action. 



They were performed in the usual way, by suspending a frog 

 by the fore-arms or head and noting by the aid of a metronome 

 the time which elapsed before it drew its foot out of a very 

 dilute mixture of sulphuric acid and water. Extract of Condu- 

 rango was then injected under the skin, the foot again dipped 

 in dilute acid, and the time till it was pulled out compared with 

 that which had been noted before the injection. 



To show that the mere suspension of the frog and the succes- 

 sive irritations applied to the feet had no effect on the time 

 required for reflex action, a frog into which nothing was injected 

 was suspended at the same time as the others. 



• Hicerche eseguite nel Oahinetto di Fisiologia delta UniversUa di Siena, 

 pp. 71—86, abstracted in the Centralhlatt de Med. Wissemchaften, 1873, 

 p. 824. 



