134 REPORT 1860. 



beneath the skin of a rabbit. In 40 minutes the pulse was intermittent, and 

 had fallen from 108 in a minute to 36. The temperature within the ears, which 

 at the time of injection was 97°, was 03°. The animal at this time was ex- 

 tremely weak, and unwilling to move ; twenty minutes later it was more lively ; 

 the pidse beat 60 in a minute, and the temperature within the ears was 96°. 

 The heart's pulsation slowly and steadily increased, and the animal recovered. 

 Experiment 7. In a very young rabbit which received beneath the skin four 

 minims of the tincture, similar symptoms terminated in recovery. In the latter 

 case the temperature fell from 97° to 89°. In each case the only sign of cerebral 

 disturbance was an extreme weakness of the hind legs, which perhaps amounted 

 to temporary paralysis ; the breathing was never distressed, and but little hurried. 

 Loss of power of the heart and of the muscles generally, with a fall of temperature, 

 was the marked symptom, and the condition of the animals improved or deterio- 

 rated coincidently with the state of the heart. Experiments 8 and 9. In two 

 rabbits poisoned by aconite the heart and large veins were distended with blood. 

 In experiment 10, where there had been during life no svmptoms of asphyxia, the 

 right side of the heart alone contained clots ; a little liquid blood escaped from 

 both ventricles. This is the only evidence throughout the experiments of death 

 from asphyxia. "With this exception, all the preceding experiments led to the 

 conclusion that aconite kills by its action upon the heart, and that the disorder of 

 the brain and lungs, when present, is due to the congestion consequent upon the 

 heart's failure. To discover if the circulation was affected by the outward application 

 of the tincture to an inflamed part, a frog's web was placed under the microscope, 

 and inflammation excited by a little mustard; the whole web was then moistened 

 with a few drops of the tincture : no effect whatever was observed for two hours 

 during w T hich the web was under the microscope. It remained to be seen if the 

 poison acted directly upon the muscles or nerves. For this purpose experiments 

 were made upon frogs : galvanism was applied under various circumstances, and 

 though the experiments were not sufficiently numerous to decide the point, the 

 conclusion arrived at was, that aconite acts immediately upon the nerves, and 

 through them upon the muscles — the heart among the number — and that that organ 

 is the first of the vital organs whose function is interrupted. The latter experiment 

 will be repeated, as well as others which have been instituted on the antidotes of 

 aconite. 



Several very careful analyses of the blood and urine of animals under aconite 

 were made, but beyond the* increased quantity of urine, nothing worthy of parti- 

 cular comment was discovered. 



On the Anatomy &/ Stenops Petto, Perodicticus Geoffroyi of Bennett. 

 By Professor Van der Hoeven. 



It is not for the first time that I make a communication on this species to the 

 British Association (see P.eport of the British Association for 1850, Trans. Sect., 

 p! 125*). On a former occasion I prov< d that this species, first described, or rather 

 commemorated, at the beginning of the foregoing century, by Bosnian, in his Dutch 

 work on the coast of Guinea, belongs to the group of the genus Stenops of llliger 

 or Nycticebus of Geofi'roy. I have now the pleasure of bringing here to the meeting 

 a nearly complete anatomical monograph of this species. It was in the begin- 

 ning of 1857 that I received two well-preserved male specimens of the Potto, pre- 

 sented to me by a Surgeon in the service of the army of the Netherlands, then 

 residing at George d'Elmina. I placed them in the hands of a Candidate of 

 Medicine, P. A. W. van Canipen, to procure him a good argument for his disserta- 

 tion. That able young man, who had devoted himself to the study of anatomy, died 



* In the few lines inserted at that page the name Lemur Polio occurs twice, but is a mis- 

 print for Lemur Potto. 1 avail myself of this opportunity to correct another fault, not of the 

 printer, but of myself. The late excellent zoologist E. T. Bennett has not stated in his de- 

 scription of the Perodictieus (Proceedings of the Zoological Society, part 1, 1830, pp. 109, 110) 

 that the tarsus was elongated. For the words, " The tarsal bones were of the same shape as 

 in Stenops, and the statement of Bennett, that the tarsus was elongated, is incorrect " read 

 " The tarsalhon.es were of the same shape also in Stenops, and my former opinion, that the 

 tarsus was elongated, is incorrect." 



