DR THOMAS R. FRASER ON STROPHANTHUS HISPIDUS. 367 



nerves. It has incidentally been shown, also, that, by local application, Strophanthus 

 produces moderate contraction of the pupil — an effect which has already been described 

 among those observed during the lethal action of Strophanthus when it is administered 

 by subcutaneous injection. Contraction of the pupil, however, was produced only by 

 the larger quantities (0*01 and 0*02 grain) that were applied; but not by so small 

 quantities as 0*002, 0'0025, and 0*005 grain, although the latter were sufficient to lessen 

 the tactile sensibility. No distinct vascular change was observed in these experiments, 

 nor was there any other evidence of irritation than repeated closing of the eyelids, soon 

 after the application had been made. 



As paralysis of the sensibility of the eyeball, associated with contraction of the pupil, 

 would be in some special respects of value in ophthalmic practice, it appeared desirable 

 to extend the observations to the human eye. This has been done for me by my friend, 

 Dr George Mackay, Assistant Ophthalmic Surgeon to the Royal Infirmary ; but the 

 results did not indicate that Strophanthus could be usefully employed in ophthalmic 

 practice. When such quantities as 0*003, 0*005, and 0*01 grain of strophanthin, dis- 

 solved in water, were applied to the surface of the human eyeball, only slight and 

 transient blunting of sensibility was produced, and the blunting was accompanied with 

 disagreeable irritative sensations in the eye, especially at its inner canthus, and with a 

 bitter taste in the mouth. No effect was observed on vision, accommodation, or intra- 

 ocular tension. 



Motor Nerves. 



In the description of some of the foregoiDg experiments on frogs (Experiments XL. 

 and XLL), in which a limb or its blood-vessels had been ligatured before the adminis- 

 tration of Strophanthus, and had thus been protected from its direct action, it has been 

 stated that stimulation of the nerve-trunk of that limb, even above the point of ligature, 

 produced contractions of the ligatured limb for a longer period than stimulation of the 

 nerve-trunk of the non-ligatured limb did so in the limb supplied by it. Thus, in 

 Experiment XLL, stimulation of the nerve-trunk of the right (ligatured) pelvic ex- 

 tremity continued to produce contractions in the limb supplied by it, for at least forty 

 minutes after stimulation of the nerve-trunk of the left (non-ligatured) pelvic extremity 

 had failed to excite contraction in the left pelvic extremity. 



This difference is also illustrated, along with some other effects, in the following 

 experiment. 



Experiment XL VIII. — After a ligature had been tied round the structures of the 

 right thigh, excluding the sciatic nerve, of an average-sized frog, 0*1 grain of extract of 

 Strophanthus was injected under the skin of the left flank. In 2 hours after the adminis- 

 tration, the reflexes were entirely abolished : but galvanic stimulation of either sciatic 

 nerve still produced contractions in the limb supplied by it, which were more active and 

 more easily excited in the right (ligatured) pelvic extremity than in the left (non- 

 ligatured). In 2 hours 15 min., however, galvanism of the left (non-ligatured) sciatic 



VOL. XXX VJ. PART II. (NO. 16). 3 L 



