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PROFESSOR C. R. MARSHALL ON 



he attributed to the nausea, and the late dyspnoea to the convulsions. Rabbits he 

 found insusceptible ; but the method of administration adopted — injection of an ethereal 

 solution, at first hypodermically, then into the pleural cavity, and later into the 

 peritoneal cavity — in the two experiments mentioned was unfortunate. And his 

 experiments on birds are similarly vitiated. 



He endeavoured to localise the action of tutu by the following experiments. After 

 obtaining convulsions from an intrapleural injection of two minims of oil of tutu, he 

 sliced off the grey matter of the left motor area, and noted that when the effect of the 

 anaesthetic had passed away the movements were limited to the right fore and hind 

 paws. From this experiment he concluded that " when the cortex is absent there are 

 no convulsions in the corresponding muscular area/' In a second experiment he 

 injected an ethereal solution of oil of tutu subdurally in the right parietal region, and 

 obtained symptoms which were undoubtedly due to the ether injected and the 

 increased intracranial pressure produced ; but he obtained also, as late symptoms, 

 twitchings of the left eyelid and later of the left fore and left hind limbs. Eventually, 

 the movements became more symmetrical. In a third experiment the ethereal solution 

 was applied to a (decorticated ?) portion of the left cortex, and was also " inserted deep 

 towards the base posteriorly." " Blindness and impaired intellectual perceptions " were 

 marked, and a convulsion subsequently supervened. Convulsions are said not to 

 occur below a section of the spinal cord, but no details of the experiment are given. 

 From these experiments he concludes that " the cortex of the motor area is the chief 

 part affected ; but the sensory and cerebellar as well as the optic lobes, etc. , or corpora 

 quadrigemina, seem to be irritated, for movements of the eyes occurred in some cases." 

 Earlier in the paper he doubts if the basal ganglia take any part in producing the 

 convulsions. 



General Effect of Tutin. 



The effect of tutin was tried, soon after its isolation, on a pig by Mr A. J. Gilruth, 

 M.R.C.V.S., and on two cats by Mr A. R. Young, M.R.C.V.S. The pig (35 lbs.) 

 received two grains dissolved in water with its food. In half an hour spasmodic closure 

 of the mouth was noted, and somewhat later accelerated respiration and vomiting, 

 which increased in severity until convulsions set in. The animal died four and a half 

 hours after the administration. The cats which were given tutin in solution suffered 

 mainly from convulsions followed by coma. Death occurred in forty minutes. 



My own observations have been made on rabbits, guinea-pigs, frogs, tadpoles, and 

 young trout. In all, the effects produced were very similar, so that, taking into 

 consideration the accidental poisoning observed in many of the higher animals, it is 

 evident that the toot plant is a poison to all classes of vertebrates. 



On Rabbits. — In rabbits, after a lethal dose there is a variable period of quietude, 

 accompanied by a diminution in the number of the heart-beats and an increase in the 

 frequency of the respirations, which is followed by tonic and clonic convulsions. The 



