CHEMICAL CONSTITUTION AND PHYSIOLOGICAL ACTION. 173 



occasion, by three and a-half grains of thebaia similarly administered, but it 

 recovered after both doses. Four grains was, however, a fatal dose, as will be 

 seen from the following Experiment, 



Experiment LXXIV. — Four grains of thebaia, almost completely dissolved in 

 very dilute hydrochloric acid, was introduced, by a gum-elastic catheter, into the 

 stomach of the rabbit that had received thirty grains of iodide of methyl-thebaium 

 (Experiment LXXI.) In six minutes, a violent tetanic convulsion occurred ; 

 after this, the rabbit remained on the side, and convulsion succeeded convulsion 

 until its death, nineteen minutes after the administration of thebaia. Rigor mortis, 

 with an acid reaction of the muscles, was completely established at thirty-seven 

 minutes after death. 



Sulphate of methyl-thebaium ((C 19 H 21 N0 3 CH 3 ) 2 S0 4 , dried at 100° C), was pre- 

 pared by precipitating an aqueous solution of the iodide by means of sulphate 

 of silver. It forms a white, indistinctly crystalline mass. It dissolves readily in 

 water, and gives, with sulphuric acid, the reaction of thebaia. 



We found it to be a less active substance than the corresponding derivative of 

 either strychnia or brucia, as doses of four and of four-and-a-half grains were 

 not fatal, though they produced symptoms, when injected into the subcutaneous 

 cellular tissue of rabbits. Five grains appears to be about the smallest quantity 

 that can produce death when administered to rabbits in this manner. The expe- 

 riments in which four and a-half and five grains were given are sufficient to illus- 

 trate the general physiological effects of this substance. 



Experiment LXXVII. — We dissolved four and a-half grains of sulphate of 

 methyl-thebaium in fifteen minims of distilled water, and injected this solution 

 into the subcutaneous tissue at the flank of a rabbit, weighing three pounds and 

 eleven ounces and a-half. In seventeen minutes, the rabbit had some difficulty 

 in jumping about, for it occasionally stumbled, and rested for a few seconds on 

 the chest. In twenty-one minutes, it was lying on the abdomen, with the lower 

 jaw resting on the table ; and, occasionally, a series of shivering tremors took 

 place in the muscles of the back. In thirty minutes, it remained on the side, 

 when so placed, and was perfectly flaccid. The respirations were at the rate of 

 sixty per minute. In forty-one minutes, the respirations had diminished in 

 frequency to forty per minute, and during inspiration the abdominal muscles 

 contracted in a tremulous manner. In fifty-five minutes, the respirations 

 had increased in number to seventy-one per minute, and in one hour and 

 thirty minutes, they appeared to have regained their normal rapidity; but it 

 was impossible to ascertain this definitely, on account of frequent interrup- 

 tions by tremulous movements of the abdominal muscles. The rabbit was 

 still lying on the side in a perfectly flaccid state. In one hour and thirty-two 

 minutes, however, it suddenly raised the head, rose, and assumed a normal 

 posture; but the trembling continued. This trembling, very faint and not at 



