TRELTMINATIY NOTES ON THE PHYSIO- 

 LOGICAL ACTION OF NITIIO- 

 GLYCERINE. 



In conjunction with E. S. TAIL 



("Reprinted from >S'^. Bartholomew's Mospilal Reports, 1876, vol. xii.) 



Fkom the olservations and experiments on the physiolo' 

 gical action and therapeutic employment of nitro-glycerine 

 made by numerous authorities, amongst whom may be men- 

 tioned Hering, Pelikan, Field, Thorovvgood, Brady, Demme, 

 Albers, Onsum, Eulenburg, Werber and others, it is evident 

 that nitro-glycerine is a powerful poison, and exerts a marked 

 action on the nervous system when given even in exceedingly 

 minute doses. Althougli many facts regarding its action have 

 already been ascertained, it has not yet been made the subject 

 of an elaborate investigation, and it therefore seemed to us 

 advisable to ascertain its action more thoroughly than has yet 

 been done. Our research is still very imperfect, but circum- 

 stances having obliged us to discontinue it for a few months, 

 we now give the results we have already obtained, and trust to 

 fill up the numerous deficiencies in them when we are again 

 able to resume work together. Whilst we confine ourselves in 

 our present paper to a statement of the results of our own 

 experiments, we purpose in a future one to enter into the 

 literature of the subject, and to compare the conclusions to 

 which our experiments have led us with those of previous 

 observers. 



General Action on Frogs. — A number of experiments were 

 made by injecting a 10 per cent, solution of nitro-glycerine in 

 alcohol, in quantities varying from about one-tenth to four- 

 tentlis of a cubic centimetre, under the skin of the back or 

 belly of a frog. The result was in all cases nearly the same. 

 Immediately after the injection the animals became very rest- 

 less, and the respirations became very rapid. In a minute or 



