174 Drs. Brunton and Fayrer on the Pulsation [June 15, 



arrested. When the pressure begins to fall the secretion of urine again 

 commences. The urine collected after the recommencement of the se- 

 cretion was not albuminous. 



24. When injected into a loop of intestine it does not increase the 

 secretion, nor does it produce any distinct congestion. 



25. When apphed to the eye it has no action on the pupil, nor does it 

 cause congestion of the conjunctiva or lachrymation. 



26. When administered to a pregnant cat it did not produce abortion. 



27. The temperature of the body is not affected by administration of the 

 drug. 



XXII. Note on Independent Pulsation of the Pulmonary Veins 

 and Vena Cava.^^ By T. Lauder Brunton, M.D., F.R.S., and 

 Sir J. Fayrer, M.D., K.C.S.I. Received June 15, 1876. 



In a former communication* we incidentally mentioned that in a 

 rabbit killed by the injection of cobra-poison into the jugular vein we had 

 observed the pulmonary vein pulsating after all motion had ceased in the 

 cavities of the heart. We have since observed the same phenomenon 

 three or four times under conditions which show that this pulsation is 

 not due to the action of the cobra-poison with which the animal in 

 w^hich we first observed it had been killed. The following example will 

 show the changes in rhythm observed in these pulsations. 



A cat was chloroformed, and the vagi exposed and irritated by an 

 interrupted current. Artificial respiration was kept up by air containing 

 chloroform vapour, and the thorax was then opened, and a solution of 

 atropia injected directly into the heart by means of a Wood's syringe. 

 The vagi were again irritated, but without any effect being produced on 

 the heart, the inhibitory apparatus in it being evidently paralyzed by the 

 atropia. A solution of glycerine extract of physostigma was now in- 

 jected into the heart in a similar way. The vagi were now irritated 

 again, and the heart stood still, the effect of the atropia having been 

 counteracted by the physostigma. After the irritation ceased the heart 

 again commenced to pulsate. 



Artificial respiration was now discontinued, but all the cavities of the 

 heart continued to beat for a considerable time. The ventricles then 

 stopped, but the auricles continued to beat. It was then noticed that 

 the pulmonary veins in the right lung, which was exposed to view, were 

 pulsating. The veins, as well as both auricles, pulsated at the rate of 

 119 per minute, but the contractions of the veins were not synchronous 

 with those of the auricles. Both auricles next ceased to beat, but the 

 pulmonary veins in both lungs continued to pulsate. The ventricles now 

 began to beat again, while the auricles remained still. The ventricles 

 pulsated at the rate of 8 per minute, while the pulmonary veins pulsated 

 at the rate of 46 per minute ; and no motion was perceptible in any part 

 of the auricles. 



^ Proceedings of the Royal Society, 1874. vol. xxii. p. 125. 



