THE PHARMACOLOGICAL ACTION OF TUTU. 305 



supply, and their distal tendons were connected by hook or ligature to cords working 

 over pulleys and ending in weighted levers. All these experiments, with the exception 

 of those on the diaphragm, which were made on rabbits, were made on cats under the 

 influence of ether. 



The records of the different convulsions are far from uniform : no convulsion either 

 in the same or in different animals was exactly similar to another. After small doses, 

 and generally after large doses, the early convulsions commenced, as previously 

 described, in the muscles of the head and neck, and affected the fore limb muscles 

 before those of the hind limbs ; but in later convulsions great irregularities appeared, 

 and the posterior limb muscles were not infrequently affected first. Even muscles of 

 the same limb serving similar functions appeared at times to be variously affected, and 

 the form of the convulsions in different muscles was not infrequently diverse. Some 

 of these points are shown in figs. 7 and 8. Fig. 7 illustrates in a marked degree the 

 usual condition of a convulsion commencing in the muscle of the anterior limb before 

 that of the posterior limb, and it also shows, what is frequently the case, the greater 

 tonus in the muscle of the hind limb. The cat received an injection into the peritoneal 

 cavity at 3.25. Twitches occurred in the Flexor Carpi Radialis at 3.49 and 3.51, and 

 short tonic contractions in the Tibialis Anticus with occasional contractions in the 

 first-named muscle at 3.55. At 4.5, short convulsions, clonic and tonic-clonic in 

 character, and lasting six to eighteen seconds with intervals of three to five 

 seconds, commenced in both muscles and continued until 4.16. A longer interval 

 of rest then occurred, followed by a convulsion similar to that shown. This was 

 succeeded by a rest of fifty-five seconds, which in turn was followed by the 

 convulsion illustrated. 



Fig. 8 shows a convulsion commencing in the Plantaris earlier than in the Extensor 

 Longus Digitorum of the same limb or the Flexor Sublimis Digitorum of the same 

 side, and it also serves to illustrate the variations in form of the convulsions in different 

 muscles. 



The experiments seem to indicate a marked loss of co-ordination in the motor areas, 

 and they explain in some measure the irregular movements and want of control seen in 

 the earlier stages of severe tutin poisoning, as well as the irregular clonus of the 

 late stages. 



In an experiment in which the contractions of antagonistic muscles — viz. Biceps, 

 Triceps, Gracilis, and Eectus Femoris — were registered, inhibition of the extensor 

 muscles occurred during the early twitches of the flexors ; but later, when more prolonged 

 tonic contractions and convulsions developed, no distinct inhibition was present. 



The muscles of the trunk, shoulder, and hip appeared from direct observation to be more 

 easily affected by tutin than the more distal muscles of the limbs, but the diaphragm 

 seemed less easily influenced. The irregularity of the contractions of the diaphragm 

 seen in many of my tracings was undoubtedly caused mainly by contractions of the 

 muscles of the abdominal walls and the prevertebral muscles, but in some instances 



