212 The Philippine Journal of Science i9i6 



vagus nerve. The irritability of the latter is depressed toward 

 the end. 



5. Small doses kill by paralyzing the respiration, while very 

 large doses kill through paralysis of the heart. 



We have not been successful in eliciting increased reflex 

 irritability of the spinal cord in our experiments on monkeys, 

 dogs, and cats in the interconvulsive period. There were con- 

 vulsions and shaking of the entire body, but the animals did 

 not respond to taps on the back, pinching of the tail, and 

 moving the limbs — ^tests which promptly bring about convulsions 

 in strychninized animals. The convulsions can be readily made 

 to break out by causing the animals to struggle, for example, 

 by lifting them up by the skin of the back. In fact it 

 appeared that voluntary movements frequently precipitated the 

 convulsions. 



TREATMENT OF POISONING BY ILLICIUM RELIGIOSUM 



The rational treatment of poisoning by lUicium religiosum 

 will not be possible till the chemical and pharmacological 

 reactions of its poisonous principle are definitely established. 

 If the poison was introduced per or em, as is usually the case, 

 the stomach should be rapidly evacuated, either by the use of 

 apomorphine or of the stomach tube. Apomorphine offers de- 

 cided advantages over the other medicinal emetics, on account 

 of its ready action and the facility with which it can be 

 administered, and lastly because it will produce emesis without 

 causing further irritation of the stomach. After the stomach 

 is evacuated, demulcent drinks or emollients may be administered. 

 In our opinion liquid paraffin is the most preferable. It is not 

 absorbable and is not changed by the digestive juices; hence 

 its soothing effect will extend to the entire length of the 

 alimentary tract. Eykman has used chloral hydrate to over- 

 come the convulsions; Langaard considered it a life-saving 

 remedy against the minimal lethal doses of lUicium religiosum. 

 The efficacy of safe quantities of chloral hydrate against violent 

 spinal convulsions is doubtful, since the action of such quantities 

 on the spinal cord is little. We have used this drug in one of 

 our cases, but from our experiments and the studies of Langaard, 

 we believe that the best method of controlling the convulsions 

 is by the careful inhalation of ether followed by the adminis- 

 tration of chloral hydrate and sodium or potassium bromide ; 

 the bromides enhance the sedative effects of chloral hydrate. 

 In the later stage of the poisoning, when paralytic symptoms 

 predominate, these drugs are emphatically contraindicated. The 



