S04 ACTION OF VKGETABLE POISONS. 



ner already described in the account of some experirnentg, 

 which 1 lately communicated to this Society. 1 then io- 

 jected into the stomach and intestines nine ounces of infu- 

 sion of tobacco. At the time of the injection, the body of 

 the animal lay perfectly quiet and motionless on the table ; 

 the heart acted regularly a,ue hundred times in a minute. 

 Ten minutes afterward the pulse rose to one hundred and 

 forty in a minute ; the peristaltic motion of the intestines 

 was much increased, and the voluntary muscles in every 

 part of the body were thrown into repeated aad violent spas- 

 modic action. The joints of the extremities were alter- 

 nately bent and extended ; the muscles of the spine, abdo- 

 men, and tail alternately relaxed and contracted^ so aa to 

 turn the whole animal from one side to the other, I have 

 observed, in other instances, spasmodic actions of the mus- 

 cles, where the circulation was kept up by artificial respira- 

 tion, after the removal of the head ; but not at all to be 

 compared, either in strength or frequency, with those, 

 which took place on this occasion, i made pressure on the 

 abdomiaal aorta for more than a minute, so as to obstruct 

 the circulation of the blood in the lower extremities; but 

 the muscular contractions were not lessened in consequence. 

 Half an hour, after the injection of the infusion, the artificial 

 respiration was discoutioued. The heart continued to act, 

 circulating dark coloured blood; the muscular contractions 

 continued, but gradually diminished in strength and fre- 

 quency. 1 tied a ligature round the vessels at the base of 

 the heart, so as to stop the circulation, nevertheless the 

 muscu^lar contraction's still continued, though less frequent 

 and forcible than before, and some minutes elapsed before 

 they entirely ceased. 



_ , In this experiment, the disposition to contraction in the 



Remarkb on ' . ' 



the pheno- muscles was very much increased, instead of being dimi- 

 *^'^^^' nished, as in those just related. If the infusion of tobacco 



influences the heart from being absorb^'d into the blood, 

 and thus coining into actual contact with it9 tibres, there is 

 no evident reason, why the rernovrd of th<^ brain, and the em- 

 ployment of artificial respiration, should occasion so mate- 

 rial a difference in its eti'ects. If the contractions of the vo- 

 luntary m\iscles huC^*tlepeuded on the infusioa circulating 



with 



