THEIR NATURE AND EPFEOTS. 31 



tongue, larynx and pharynx, as evinced by inability to 

 retain the saliva within the mouth, by incapacity to 

 move the tongue, or to speak, or to swallow, are very 

 prominent signs of cobra-poisoning both in men and 

 jnimals. It is singular that the striking resemblance 

 of these symptoms to the disease known as glosso- 

 laryngeal paralysis has not been previously noticed. 

 Now, the preponderance of medical opinion attributes 



this disease to lesion of certain tracts of the medulla. 



• 



It cannot be thought, therefore, anything but reasonable 

 to connect both diseases with paralysis of those centres 

 in the medulla oblongata which are so closely associated 

 togetlier, and which are in connexion with the roots of 

 the vagus, the spinal accessory, and the hypo-glossal 

 nerves and the lower nucleus of the facial. But the 

 resemblance does not end here. In both diseases the 

 respiration becomes feebler and feebler, and the victim, 

 at last, dies suffocated. In other words, the lesion in 

 the one case, and the paralysing poison in the other, 

 have invaded the respiratory nucleus so near to the 

 centres they have already destroyed, and have thus 

 rendered the respiratory act difficult, and, at last, 

 impossible. Lastly, after all the lower centres have 

 been completely paralysed, the one by which connection 

 is made with the second, fifth, and seventh nerves still 

 acts, and the eye is closed when touched, and even 

 when approached, after the animal is dependent on 

 artificial respiration for life. For these reasons it seems 



