THE PHARMACOLOGICAL ACTION OF TUTU. 



307 



the diaphragm also appeared to 

 take part in the clonic fit. No 

 prolonged tonic contraction of 

 the diaphragm was obtained or 

 observed. 



Seat of Origin of the 

 Convulsions. 



The spinal cord is slightly, 

 if at all, affected by tutin. In 

 frogs pithed through the 

 occipito-atlantal membrane, the 

 injection of tutin produced no 

 convulsions ; and if the tutin 

 was injected and the con- 

 vulsions allowed to develop 

 before pithing, this operation 

 caused the convulsions to 

 cease, and they did not recur. 

 In rabbits anaesthetised with 

 ether or chloroform, or with 

 the brain above the quadrate 

 bodies excised, section of the 

 spinal cord previous to the 

 injection of tutin prevented 

 the occurrence of convulsions or 

 of increased reflex movements 

 below the point of section ; and 

 section of the spinal cord after 

 the development of convulsions 

 caused complete cessation of 

 these below the point of section, 

 and they did not recur.* 



* Gottlieb (Arch. f. exp. Path. u. 

 Pharm. vol. xxx. p. 21) has shown that in 

 dogs kept for several days to allow the 

 shock of the operation to pass away, con- 

 vulsive movements can be produced in the 

 hind limbs by picrotoxin after section of 



the spinal cord, and that in certain fishes and amphibians and very young mammals convulsive movements can be 

 induced by this drug behind a spinal transection soon after the operation. He failed, however, to get any evidence 

 of spinal stimulation in pithed frogs. See also note at the end of this paper. 



