ICHTHYOTOXISMUS. 195 



often results. Death may occur within one hour after the infliction 

 of the wound. 



Gressin states that there is no poison gland connected with the 

 barbs on the gill cover of Trachinus draco, but that the pocket, in 

 which the opercular fin lies, is lined with large epithelial cells, which 

 probably secrete the poison. This substance kills small fish, frogs 

 and rats, in which convulsions and fall of temperature precede 

 death. One drop of the fluid injected subcutaneously in pigeons 

 causes convulsive trembling and spasmodic breathing. While 

 Gressin found that the poison of the weaver-fish at Havre induces 

 convulsions in frogs, Pohl found that the poison of the same fish 

 from the Adriatic, also that of Trachinus radiatus, acts as an ex- 

 quisite heart poison, retarding and finally arresting this organ in 

 diastole. Its effect on the heart is not altered by atropin, camphor, 

 caffein, helleborein, or hydrastin. Along with its effects on the 

 heart, spontaneous muscular and cutaneous sensibility are impaired. 

 A similar, though less active, poison is found in the barb of the 

 dorsal fin. The small immovable barbs in the dorsal fin of the 

 Scorpcena porcus (hog-fish), so much dreaded by fishermen, are sup- 

 plied with an analogous but less active poison. Neither the blood 

 serum nor the raw flesh of the Trachinus has poisonous properties. 



2. The fish poisoning so well known in Japan is due to different 

 species of the tetrodon (fugu). According to Remy, there are in 

 Japan twelve species of fish, all belonging to the genus Tetrodon, 

 whose ovaries are poisonous. In winter when the ovaries are atro- 

 phied they are less harmful ; however, Remy reports the following 

 experiments made with fish caught during the winter : Dogs fed upon 

 the ovaries or testicles soon sickened, with salivation, severe and fre- 

 quent vomiting and convulsive muscular contractions. Soon after 

 the poison was gotten out of the stomach by vomiting recovery fol- 

 lowed. In order to prevent this rapid elimination the organs were 

 rubbed up in a mortar and the fluid portion administered subcutane- 

 ously. By this method, notwithstanding the fact that the experiments 

 were made in winter, death resulted in less than two hours. The 

 symptoms consisted chiefly of disturbances of the digestive and 

 nervous systems. The most important were uneasiness, salivation, 

 vomiting of much mucus, severe contractions of the abdomen, then 

 paralytic symptoms, relaxation of the sphincters, marked dyspnoea, 

 cyanosis and dilatation of the pupils. Death was due to dyspnoea. 

 On section the salivary glands and pancreas were found injected and 

 hyperemic. There were small hemorrhagic spots in the stomach and 

 intestines. The liver and kidneys were filled with dark blood as is 

 seen in death from asphyxiation. No structural changes could be 

 found in the nervous system. 



Miura and Takesaki find that the ripe ovaries of Tetrodon rubripes 

 contain a substance which induces in rabbits acceleration of the res- 



