OF THE CALABAR BEAN. 719 



for one hour and a-half after death. Its chambers usually cease to contract in 

 a definite order, the left auricle first losing its spontaneous action, then the right 

 and left ventricles, and, after an interval, the right auricle. The large veins in 

 the thorax are found distended. . . . The lungs are engorged — in two experi- 

 ments this had proceeded to such an extent that detached portions sank in 

 water. . . . 



" When a large fatal dose of the kernel is administered, the hind limbs almost 

 immediately yield, and the animal falls. It lies flaccid, and in any position, on the 

 table, and exhibits muscular power only by a few twitches. The pupils contract; 

 in a few cases fluid escapes from the nostrils and mouth, and the lachrymal 

 secretion is increased. Reflex action cannot be produced by irritation, and the 

 respirations, after a few gasps, cease. 



" The pupils dilate immediately after death. On opening the body, muscular 

 twitches occur. . . . The heart is found distended and passive; irritation, 

 however, produces contraction for about ten minutes after death. The vermicular 

 action of the intestines is very much diminished, and can scarcely be observed. 

 . . . The mesenteric arteries and veins may be readily distinguished by the 

 colours of their contents." 



The following will serve to illustrate the symptoms with frogs : — 



Experiment III. 



Three grains of extract of physostigma, suspended in twenty minims of distilled water, 

 were injected, by Wood's syringe, into the subcutaneous cellular tissue at the back of a 

 light-coloured frog, weighing 430 grains. For four minutes it appeared perfectly unaffected 

 and jumped about normally ; after which time some increase occurred in the respiratory irregu- 

 larity which is always found in frogs. In seven minutes, the respiratory movements of the chest 

 had ceased ; but those of the throat continued for other four minutes (eleven after injection). 

 About this time, the movements of the animal were sluggish ; the fore legs gradually began to 

 separate until they no longer supported the chest and head ; and the posterior extremities were 

 affected in a like manner, and soon after lay extended and flaccid. Weak voluntary move- 

 ments, however, continued until fifteen minutes after the exhibition of the poison ; and, for some 

 time after this, irritation demonstrated the continuance of reflex power. In half an hour, the 

 skin of the frog had undergone a marked change, having become of a dark brown colour. Al- 

 though now apparently dead, it was not, in a strict physiological sense, really so. Motor nerve- 

 conductivity was retained for many minutes longer ; the diastaltic function was not abolished, 

 and, hence, it was possible to show that afferent nerve-conductivity also continued ; and the 

 muscular tissue, for many hours, contracted when stimulated, and, in the case of some of the 

 heart chambers, spontaneously and successively did so, for a shorter period. 



Into all these, and many other points, it is necessary to enter with detail, 

 and several of them may be overtaken in a somewhat connected manner by 

 examining the cause of what is the most prominent, as well as one of the 

 earliest, of the phenomena described. This is obviously the condition of gra- 

 dually increasing paralysis. 



VOL. XXIV. PART III. 9 K 



