366 DR THOMAS R. FRASER ON STROPHANTHTJS HISPIDTJS. 



thesia of the surface of the left eyeball continued for 25 min. In other 10 ruin., although 

 no reflex followed gentle touches, moderately strong touches were followed by closing of 

 the left eyelids; and in other 40 min., or 1 hour and 43 min. after the application of 

 Strophauthus, the left eyeball was as sensitive to gentle touches as it originally had been. 

 The pupils remained of equal size throughout the experiment. 



Experiment XLV. — At 9 min. after the application to the surface of the right eye- 

 ball of a rabbit of 0*005 grain of strophanthin, dissolved in 1 minim of water, the reflexes 

 of the eyelids were unaffected. At 18 min., however, the right cornea and conjunctiva 

 were quite insensitive to gentle and moderately strong touches. This insensibility, 

 restricted to the right eyeball, continued for 48 min. In other 12 min. the surface of 

 the right eyeball had slightly recovered its sensibility; but complete recovery of it was 

 only slowly attained, and did not occur until 3 hours and 30 min. after the application, 

 or 3 hours and 12 min. after the production of complete tactile insensibility. 



Experiment XL VI. — Having ascertained in a rabbit that the pupils of both eyes 

 were equal and moderately diluted (fgth of an inch), and that the tactile sensibility was 

 acute, O'Ol grain of strophanthin, dissolved in 2 minims of water, was placed upon the 

 right eyeball. In 10 min., the surface of the right eyeball continued to be as sensitive as 

 originally. In 14 min., gentle touches of this eyeball produced no effect, but stronger 

 touches were followed by closing of the eyelids. In 21 min., the right eyelids no longer 

 closed when the cornea or conjunctiva was touched with moderate force ; and the pupils 

 were equal, and ioths of an inch in diameter. In 1 hour 20 min., the surface of the 

 right eyeball was still quite insensitive ; and now the right pupil was contracted to sSths 

 of an inch, the left remaining as before fftths. This insensibility of the surface of the 

 right eyeball, with moderate contraction of its pupils, lasted altogether for 2 hours and 

 15 min. ; and even during the following 1 hour and 15 min., the tactile sensibility of the 

 right eyeball was distinctly less acute than that of the left, and the right pupil was 

 smaller than the left. 



Experiment XLVII. — Before applying - 02 grain of strophanthin, dissolved in 2 

 minims of water, to the left eyeball of a rabbit, it was ascertained that the surface of each 

 eyeball was normally sensitive to touch, and that each pupil measured £$ths of an inch. 

 In 18 min. after the application, the eyelids of the left eye no longer closed when the 

 eye was pretty forcibly touched with the point of a blunt stylette ; and the left pupil 

 measured £§ths and the right soths of an inch. This condition of absence of tactile 

 sensibility and of moderate contraction of the pupil continued in the left eye for at least 

 3 hours and 35 min. Latterly, the sensibility of the right eyeball seemed also to be 

 slightly blunted. On the following day, 22 hours after the application, the surface of 

 the left eyeball was still slightly less sensitive than that of the right ; but both pupils 

 were equal and measured ^£th of an inch. 



These observations show that in rabbits the corneal and conjunctival sensibility to 

 touch is distinctly reduced when strophanthin is applied to the surface of the eyeball, 

 and, therefore, that this substance exerts a paralysing action on the sensory or afferent 



