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



Further, in atropia-poisoning, the attacks of tetanus can seldom be excited by the 

 very slight stimuli that are sufficient to do so in strychnia-poisoning. 



The tetanus of atropia, also, is characterised by various irregularities. Some 

 of these have already been described ; such as the continuous spasm of the muscles 

 of the throat, of the front of the thorax and abdomen, and of the anterior extre- 

 mities, either only accompanying a condition in which tetanus in the posterior 

 extremities may be excited, or also persisting after this condition has ceased : and 

 of the others, it is sufficient to mention the occurrence of tonic spasm of one 

 group of muscles in one limb, and of another group in another; of contractions of 

 unequal force in the muscles at the opposite sides of the thorax and neck, causing 

 lateral curvature during a tetanic convulsion ; and of tetanus in the posterior 

 extremities, with only slight increase of reflex excitability in the anterior. 



The last of these irregularities was observed in the following among other 

 experiments : — 



Experiment XXIX. — A solution of four-tenths of a grain of sulphate of atropia, 

 in four minims of distilled water, was injected under the skin, at the right flank 

 of a female frog, weighing 361 grains, whose oviducts were greatly distended. 



On the following day, the frog was lying on the abdomen, chest, and lower 

 jaw, with the posterior extremities flexed, and the anterior extended at right 

 angles to the body. When the skin was stimulated, some feeble movements 

 followed in the toes of both posterior extremities ; but no reflex contraction 

 could elsewhere be excited. 



On the third day — fifty-two hours after the administration — the posture of 

 the frog was the same as on the previous day ; but the paralysis was now more 

 complete, for no reflex movement whatever could be excited, and it was found, 

 on examination, that the motor conductivity of the sciatic nerves had dis- 

 appeared. 



On the fourth day — seventy-two hours after the administration — the condi- 

 tion of flaccid ity was no longer present. The anterior extremities were now 

 slightly flexed, so as to raise the head and chest ; and now and then a feeble 

 voluntary movement, and a barely perceptible respiration, occurred. These 

 movements generally excited an attack of violent tetanus in the posterior 

 extremities, and a comparatively feeble spasmodic extension of the anterior, 

 during which the latter assumed a more perpendicular direction than before. 

 Feeble irritation caused similar attacks. They usually lasted for eight seconds 

 in the posterior extremities, and for only three in the anterior. 



During the fifth and sixth days, the frog continued to suffer from tetanus, 

 and the character of the symptoms was exactly the same as on the fourth day. 

 Neither abnormal flexion nor tonic spasm occurred in the anterior extremities, 

 and such convulsive movements as appeared in them were always much less 

 violent, and of shorter duration, than in the posterior extremities. 



