414 Transactions.—Botany, 
may expect to find the period of excitement and the torpidity to be the only 
marked symptoms," And further he adds :—‘‘ Of the medicinal uses of 
Pituri little at present can be said. I have given it in some cases of 
extreme debility, but in doses much too small to enable me to speak of its 
value. I would expect it to be & tonic nervine, that could be used along 
with alcohol.” 
My experiments with Pituri were made with the leaves themselves, with 
the infusion, and with the extract of the leaves, and were performed upon 
domestic animals and myself. The results were somewhat similar to those 
of the gentlemen herein referred to; but as I had not a sufficiency of the 
Pituri for a very extensive series of experiments, I used up what I had, and 
am waiting for a further supply before continuing others. The results I 
have at present arrived at are: When the leaves are chewed by a man 
unaccustomed to its use, it excites increased flow of saliva; a slight dilation 
of the pupil; the heart’s action is accelerated, the beats being increased in 
number by from five to eight in the minute; a pain in the hind part of the 
head is felt ; the respirations are reduced in volume ; there is slight nausea. 
These symptoms pass off after a short time. Then is felt increased 
museular irritability ; a feeling of greater power; an inclination exists to 
move the museles in some vigorous manner; the heart beats stronger; the 
diaphragm acts more forcibly; respiration is performed slower; muscular 
exertion is more easily done, and greater exertion can be made without 
fatigue; a desire for muscular movement continues for a long time; partial 
anesthesia of the skin is felt for some hours; sense of touch is lessened ; 
no feeling of hunger or thirst is felt, if food or drink is not taken for twenty- 
four hours; the excretions are decreased in quantity, and chemical con- 
stituents altered ; there is less carbonic acid in the air expired than normal. 
If the extract or infusion is given to animals so that it enters their 
system by the digestive organs, much the same train of symptoms is 
observed; but if it is injected subcutaneously, then the symptoms more 
nearly approach those described from the observations of Dr. Bancroft. 
From such experiments as I have hitherto been able to make, I have 
no doubt that the active principles of the Pituri, acting as it does upon the 
great nerve eentres and ganglions, and also on the muscles, increasing the 
irritability of their muscular fibre elements, and while it is acting upon the 
nerves and muscles, the growth of cells is retarded, and thus tissue change 
is modified and lessened, the individual under its influence being thus able 
to undergo exertion without food, which without it, he could not sustain. 
It is, therefore, one of the few active agents that hereafter will be of 
considerable serviee to the physician and others, that when properly given 
or used, will prolong and preserve life, by carrying on the organie functions 
