240 



Presents. 



[Mar. m, 



VII. <{ Contributions to our Knowledge of the Connexion between 

 Chemical Constitution and Physiological Action. Prelimi- 

 nary Communication on the Action of certain Aromatic 

 Bodies." By T. Lauder Brunton, M.D., F.R.S., and 

 J. Theodore Cash, M.D. Received March 24, 1887. 



The distinctive action of the lower members of the fatty series is 

 their stimulant and anaesthetic action on the nerve-centres. 



The members of the aromatic series also affect the nervous system, 

 but they appear to affect the motor centres more than the sensory, so 

 that instead of producing anaesthesia, like the members of the fatty 

 series, they tend rather to produce tremor, convulsions, and paralysis. 

 Benzene, chlorobenzene, bromobenzene, and iodobenzene are all 

 somewhat similar in their action on frogs; the halogen radicals not 

 modifying the action of the benzene to such an extent as they do in 

 the case of ammonium salts. The voluntary muscles are weakened 

 by them, and there is a slight tendency to paralysis of the motor 

 nerves ; but the action is chiefly exerted upon the brain and spinal 

 cord. The brain is first affected, as shown by general lethargy and 

 disinclination to move. Next the cord is affected ; motions are imper- 

 fectly performed, and there is a tendency to general tremor on move- 

 ment resembling that observed in disseminated sclerosis ; sometimes, 

 however, the tremor is observed independently of movement. 



The addition of hydroxyl to the benzene nucleus intensifies the 

 convulsant action, so that oxy benzene (carbolic acid) and dioxy- 

 benzene cause convulsions in frogs, and trioxybenzene causes jerkings, 

 though of a slighter character. 



The Society then adjourned over the Easter Recess to Thursday, 

 April 21st. 



Presents, March 31, 1887. 



Transactions. 



Calcutta : — Indian Museum. Catalogue of Siwalik Yertebrata. 

 Parts I-1I. 8vo. Calcutta 1886. Catalogue of Pleistocene and 

 Pre-historic Vetebrata. 8vo. Calcutta 1886. The Museum. 



Cambridge, Mass. : — Harvard College. Bulletin of the Museum of 

 Comparative Zoology. Vol. XIII. No. 2. 8vo. Cambridge 1886. 



The Museum. 



Frankfurt-am-Oder : — Naturwissenschaftlicher Verein. Monatliche 

 Mittheilungen aus dem Gesammtgebiete der Naturwissen- 

 schaften. Band IV. Nr. 1-12. 8vo. Berlin 1887 ; Societatum 

 Litterae. 1887. Nos. 1-2. 8vo. Berlin. The Union. 



