1890. ] Physiology. 93 
studied experimentally in the Harvard Physiological Laboratory the 
action of strychnine upon frogs. 
A quantitative table was first constructed showing the time that var- 
ious amounts of strychnine require to produce convulsions in frogs of 
known weight. A certain amount of a solution of strychnine sulphate 
was then injected into a frog, and after a stated time various organs, 
spinal cord, muscle, liver, brain, blood, etc., were removed and rubbed 
up with water to a fluid consistency. Given quantities of each of these 
were then injected into separate frogs, and from the time of the appear- 
ance of the convulsions, by comparison with the quantitative table, the 
relative amounts of the drug absorbed by the various organs of the first 
frog were calculated. The results go to show that the spinal cord takes 
up relatively more strychnine than any other organ. In the case of 
one frog—a typical one—the relative amounts of the drug in one gram 
of several organs were as follows: spinal cord, 1.52 mgr.; liver, .325 
mgr. ; muscle, .377 mgr. On comparing the relative amounts in the 
blood and cord it was found that after small doses the cord contained 
more than the blood, while the reverse obtained with large doses. 
This relation seems to be constant. From these experiments the ques- 
tion of the affinity of the spinal cord for strychnine seems to be an- 
‘swered most clearly. The susceptibility of its protoplasm to the drug 
is left undecided.—L. GorF. 
The Muscle Current.—Dr. R. Nicolaides, of the University of 
Athens, gives! the results of some observations with the capillary 
electrometer to determine the duration and law of disappearance of 
the muscle current. He finds that in the excised gracilis or sartorius 
of the frog the current falls away at first quickly, then more slowly, 
and very gradually disappears. The whole duration naturally varies, 
but is considerable, ¢.g., 380 minutes (gracilis). The longitudinal 
section currents are very weak, and of shorter duration than those 
between longitudinal and transverse sections. His results show that 
the muscle current runs a course parallel to that of the muscle irrita- 
bility, lasting as long as it lasts, and disappearing according to the 
same law as it disappears.—L. GOFF. 
_ Effect of Atropin on the Chorda Tympani.—The two kinds 
of secretory fibres distinguished by Heidenhain in gland nerves have 
for some time enjoyed an undisputed right to existence. It has been 
recognized that there are “ secretory ” fibres, controlling the secretion 
of water and salts, and “‘ trophic ” fibres, controlling the elaboration 
1 Du Bois Reymond’s Archiv., 1889, P. 73- 

