TBE POISONOUS PLANTS OF BOMBAY. 35 



kinds of secretory fibres there is ground for supposing there is a 



third xoxiQij — anabolic fibres — causing the formation of fresh substance 



by the cells. After an injection of sulphate of Atropine there is no 



increase either in the percentage of salts in the sympathetic saliva 



produced by stimulation of the chorda tympani, as there would be 



if the trophic fibres of the chorda escaped paralysis. It would seem 



that atropine paralyses the trophic as well as the secretory fibres of 



the chorda tympani.* Atropiae checks the sweat secretion, says 



Murrellj by paralysing the efferent sweat-fibres which accompany the 



vaso-motor fibres. Lauder Brunton corroborates these remarks, for he 



says, in small doses Atropine will paralyse the efferent nerves which 



end either in voluntary muscular fibres, in glands or in ganglia. 



Atropine paralyses the lacteal nerve-terminations in the mammary 



gland of the human female. The secretion of milk is consequently 



arrested. Atropine similarly arrests seci'etion of the jjaDcreas. The 



action of the liver is also affected. The quantity of bile is lessened. 



Mnrrell says that the effect on the urinary system is somewhat doubtful. 



(8). The Rash on the Human Skin. — Dr. John Harley affirms that 



generally it is nothing more than of a mere temporary kind ; " but 



in rare cases, and in persons who are liable to vascular irritation of the 



skin the redness remains, and its disappearance is attended by slight 



roughness and desquamation." He mentions two cases, in one of 



which " the patient was scarlet from head to foot," and another in 



•which after the fourth dose, there was a scarlatinous tint of the skin." 



Dr. Gillespie has met with a case in which after injection of a small 



quantity of extract of belladonna into the urethra of a patient, the 



patient became "as red as a lobster " in less than five minutes 



(Murrell).f Lauder Brunton also notes that a red rash appears on the 



skin like that of scarlatina.t Schmiedeberg says, " the redness of the 



skin resembling scarlet fever so often observed, especially in the upper 



part of the body, and the similar colour with turgescence of the 



features, are probably connected with increase of the frequency of 



the pulse, with the increase of blood pressure caused thereby, and 



with the simultaneous dilatation of the vessels of the skin." § 



* Mutrell, op. cit., p. 437. f Murrell, o^. cit., p. -138. 



X Text Book of Pharmacology, p. 904, 2nd Ed., 1885, London. 

 English Translation, pp. 53-64 (Edinburgh, 1887)^ by Dixon cf Sydney University ,N.S.W, 



