316 THE PHARMACOLOGICAL ACTION OF TUTU. 



but since the appearance of Malcolm and Fitchett's paper I have repeated two of the experiments on cats. 

 In both cases the animals were anaesthetised with chloroform and the anaesthesia maintained with ether. 

 In one animal 0"02 grm. tutin was injected into the external jugular vein, and five minutes after the hind 

 limbs were seen and felt to twitch the spinal cord was completely divided at the level of the 11th dorsal 

 vertebra. The convulsions in the parts innervated beyond the section immediately ceased, and they did not 

 recur. Apparent convulsive movements in the hind parts appeared, but, as in experiments on rabbits, they 

 were synchronous with the clonic convulsions occurring in the fore part of the body, and by careful 

 palpation were proved to arise in the muscles innervated anteriorly to the spinal section. The muscles of 

 the hind limbs were palpated for forty minutes after the transection, but no twitch was felt in them. In 

 the second experiment the mid-brain was cut across just above the pons, and the brain above the section 

 removed. The administration of ether was then stopped. Twelve minutes later (3.28) O02 grm. tutin 

 was injected intravenously. Twitches of the eyelids and ears occurred at 3.37, and slight convulsive 

 movements of the limbs at 3.42. These quickly became more severe, and at 3.51 the cord was completely 

 divided at the level of the last dorsal vertebra. Slight independent movements of the hind limbs occurred 

 at 3.54, and became more marked and assumed a more convulsive type later. Pressure on one hind foot 

 excited convulsions in both hind limbs. The convulsions, however, were not so characteristic as those in 

 the fore part of the body. The animal died at 4.15. This experiment, therefore, confirms the observation 

 of Malcolm and Fitchett that tutin acts on the spinal cord in cats ; and the first experiment seems to show 

 that this effect, like that upon the lower cerebral centres, is very susceptible to anaesthetics. 



