358 



Effects of 

 opium on the 

 li-ving system. 



ON OPIUM. 



the spine, were violently convulsed, and in one houi- and 

 forty minutes the animal was dead. 



The upper part of the body was then separated from the 

 lower, at the part where the spine had been divided, and 

 the following was the state of irritability in the different 

 parts. 



To the muscles of the breast and those of the superior 

 iextremities, salt was applied, but without exciting the least 

 contraction or motion. 



The iliac nerves below the point of the division of the 

 spine were compressed; vivid and frequently repeated con- 

 tractions were excited in all the muscles of the legs and 

 thighs. 



This experiment was repeated several times and invariably 

 presented the same result. All the muscles of the body 

 above the point of the division of the spine, lost the irrita- 

 bility; on the contrary, below the point of division, the 

 irritability of the muscle remained unimpaired after the 

 death of the animal, as was rendered evident both by the 

 tompression of the nerves and the application of salt. 



To examine these circumstances a little more minutely, 

 another experiment was made. 



' Exp. 16*. The ischiatic nerves were divided on both 

 sides in a frog, near their exit from the pelvis ; this opera- 

 tion does not render the limb entirely paralytic. The- 

 animal still possesses a voluntary power over the muscles of 

 the thigh, in a considerable degree: The upper point of the 

 leg is rendered nearly paralytic, the lower point of the leg 

 and feet are rendered entirely paralytic. 



Into the stomach of a frog, thus prepared; thirty drops 

 of the solution were injected; after twenty-one minutes the 

 animal was convulsed; the convulsions extended to the 

 thighs ; the legs and feet were not in the smallest degree 

 aiftectcd by convulsions. In one hour and eighteen minutes, 

 the animal was dead. 



The application of salt to the inferior extremities, the 

 lower joints of the legs and feet, produced rapid and fre- 

 quent contractions; the muscles of the thighs at first did 



Vide Inaiig. Dissert. p» 66. Exp, 44, 



not 



