1876.] Cause of the slow Pulse in Jaundice, 445 



but directly after fell to 6 in 15 s . Five minutes after, the beats being 

 still 6 in 15 s , the right vagus was again irritated, but no change followed. 

 Three minutes after the beats were 5 in 15 s . Experiment was then 

 broken off. 



Two other like experiments were made and with like results. They 

 would seem to show that the bile-acids do not restore to the vagus the 

 inhibitory power destroyed' by the atropine. 



If, then, the slowness of the pulse be not due to the influence of the 

 vagus on the heart, there remain two other factors in the movements of 

 the heart to be considered — the ganglia and the muscular walls. Look- 

 ing at the muscular walls as the cause of the slow pulse, it became of 

 great importance to examine with care the experiments of Traube and 

 Johannes Kanke, as to the action of the bile-acids upon striped muscular 

 tissue. Traube himself has made no immediate observations upon 

 muscle. He believes that the heart muscle is the organ affected, solely 

 apparently because the low blood pressure and slow pulse so quickly dis- 

 appear. I can confirm nearly all Traube's statements of fact by observa- 

 tions of my own. Only the ecchymoses in the conjunctiva of the side 

 used for injection have T failed to see. The inspiratory spasm on the 

 injection of the bile-acids into the carotid is extremely well marked, and 

 persists after the removal of the cerebral hemispheres. But it is hard 

 to agree with his explanation of facts, and his u muscular-motor " theory 

 remains at present a pure hypothesis. 



In repeating Eanke's experiments I followed his method of injecting 

 10 cubic centimetres of a 1-per-cent. solution of bile-acids in saline solu- 

 tion into the aorta of frogs. I noticed all the phenomena which he has 

 described — the irregular contractions of the muscles of the limbs as the 

 injection passed into them, their rigidity and hardness immediately after 

 the injection, and the absence of contraction on the application of 

 electricity to the sciatic nerves. Banke seems to think these appearances 

 are best explained by supposing that the bile-acids have a specific in- 

 fluence upon muscular tissue. Knowing, however, the power which 

 the bile-acids possess of coagulating albumen (a 1-per-cent. solution will 

 coagulate white of egg), it seems to me that the appearances seen would 

 be very fully explained by the chemical action of the bile -acids upon the 

 albuminous substances of the muscle ; and a chemical action Eanke him- 

 self admits. I was thus led to make a series of experiments in which 

 the bile-acids should not be immediately brought into contact with the 

 muscles, but should act by means of the natural process of absorption. 

 The bile-acid solution was injected into the lymphatic sac or under the 

 skin of frogs. The amount given varied from '05 to -3 grm. Twelve 

 experiments were made, and in nearly all no change in the curve traced 

 by the myograph could be detected after the injection of the bile-acids, 

 the observations lasting up to the time that the muscles responded to 

 any amount of electricity that I was able to bring to bear upon them. 



