456 DR T. R. FRASER ON SOME UNDESCRIBED TETANIC SYMPTOMS 



tration — only feeble movements could be excited, and there was now a slight 

 degree of continuous general stiffness. The heart's action was at the rate of 

 twenty-two beats in the minute, but the respiratory movements were feeble and 

 very infrequent. 



On the twelfth day — two hundred and sixty hours after the administration— 

 the stiffness was more marked, no reflex movements whatever could be excited, 

 and it was found that the sciatic nerves were completely paralysed, and that the 

 muscles responded but faintly to direct galvanic stimulation. The heart's action 

 was at the rate of only eleven beats in the minute. 



On the thirteenth day, the frog was dead, and in rigor. 



The dose of atropia administered in this experiment was exceptionally large, 

 when compared with the weight of the frog ; but the frog was a small one, and 

 had been kept in the laboratory for many months — conditions which appear to 

 favour a certain amount of tolerance. With a frog recently obtained from its 

 natural habitat so large a dose, however, would most probably have proved fatal 

 before tetanus occurred. The stage of complete paralysis of motor nerves lasted 

 altogether about five days and ten hours. 



Each of these two experiments has been distinguished by an exceptional cir- 

 cumstance : Experiment XIX. by the long continuance of the stage of tetanus, 

 and Experiment XXXIII. by the long continuance of the stage of complete para- 

 lysis of the motor nerves. In the experiment which will now be described the 

 duration of the phenomena was such as more frequently occurred. 



Experiment XXIII. — A solution of 04 grain of sulphate of atropia, in four 

 minims of distilled water, was injected under the skin at the left flank of a frog, 

 weighing 386 grains. As usual, after such a dose, in the course of an hour the 

 frog was flaccid, and unable to perform any voluntary movements. 



On the following day — eighteen hours after the administration — the frog was 

 lying motionless on the abdomen and lower jaw. It was ascertained by galvanic 

 stimulation that the conductivity of the sciatic nerves was suspended, while the 

 contractility of the voluntary muscles was apparently unaffected. At twenty- 

 two hours after the administration, however, a weak stimulus produced feeble 

 reflex movements. The heart's impulse was now barely perceptible, and con- 

 tractions occurred but eight times in the minute. 



On the third day — fifty hours after the administration — the frog was still 

 lying on the abdomen, but the chest and head were slightly raised by continuous 

 flexion of the anterior extremities. The reflex function was in a more active 

 state, for a slight stimulus applied to the skin of the head caused an increase in 

 the flexion of the anterior extremities, by which the head was still further 

 raised, and a sudden extreme abduction of the two posterior extremities. Irregu- 

 lar respiratory movements of the throat were now observed. 



On the fourth day — seventy-three hours after the administration — a faint 



