442 , VEGETABLE DEUGS 



of the bronchial muscles accounts for the oedema. There is 

 also great excess of secretion which may aggravate the drown- 

 ing process. The respiration becomes weak and slow and 

 death occurs from asphyxia after lethal doses. 



Nervous System and Muscles. — Medicinal doses do not 

 cause any functional disturbance' of the nervous system, but 

 very large doses excite the spinal motor tract and reflex 

 centres and. cause convulsions in frogs, succeeded by spinal 

 depression and paralysis. Tihe latter is due in part to an 

 influence on the muscles themselves. TremOrs occur occa- 

 sionally in man and the domestic animals in poisoning. The 

 nerves escape unscathed. The involuntary muscles are stim- 

 ulated throughout the body, owing to the direct action of 

 the drug upon their motor nerve terminations. 



Skin. — Moderate doses of pilocarpine stimulate but 

 slightly the secretion of sweat in the lower animals, but in 

 man the secretion is enormous (1 pt.). The salivary secre- 

 tion appears to supplant that of the skin in the domestic 

 animals, unless very large doses are employed (H., gr.vii.- 

 xii.), which cause diarrhcea, salivation and loss of body 

 weight (40 to 60 lbs.), and may entail pulmonary cedema 

 and heart failure. The secretory nerve terminations are 

 stimulated. The secretion of tears, nasal mucus and milk 

 are slighly increased in the same manner, and the growth of 

 hair is rendered more luxurious. 



Temperature. — The temperature is reduced by evapora- 

 tion from the skin, if there is much sweating. 



Genito-Urinary Organs. — Pilocarpine exerts a slight 

 and uncertain oxytocic action on the pregnant uterus and has 

 sometimes precipitated parturition in pregnant animals at 

 full term. The unstriped muscle of the spleen and bladder 

 is stimulated, and micturition is frequent. Pilocarpine, in 

 repeated small doses, augments the flow of urine and prob- 

 ably increases tissue waste and the excretion of urea by its 

 general action on the secretions. It is eliminated unchanged 

 in the urine. 



Eye. — Pilocarpine contracts the pupil when ap- 

 plied to the eye; it also reduces tension of the eyeball 

 and induces contraction of the ciliary muscle. The my- 

 osis is due to stimulation of the peripheral oculomotor 



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