3Q 



Scientific Proceedings (46). 



Bibliography. 



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2. Tollens, C. Zeitschrift f. Physiol. Chemie, LXI, p. 95. 



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II (630) 



The convulsant effect of the removal of the heart upon frogs 

 which had injections of morphin. A demonstration. 



By T. S. GITHENS and S. J. MELTZER. 



[From the Department of Physiology and Pharmacology of the 

 Rockefeller Institute.} 



Last April it was reported from this laboratory that (1) sub- 

 stances which are capable of causing a definite biological reaction 

 in frogs cause the characteristic reaction also when injected after 

 the removal of the heart, and (2) that some substances, like 

 morphin and acid fuchsin, appear to be even more effective in 

 cardiectomized than in normal frogs. The first phenomenon was 

 explained by the theory that distribution in frogs deprived of the 

 cardio-vascular circulation is accomplished by a peripheral mechan- 

 ism, namely, by the tissue spaces, which present a connected 

 system throughout the body. The second phenomenon was in- 

 terpreted by the hypothesis that the fresh blood in the cardio- 

 vascular mechanism continually antagonizes the convulsant action 

 of such substances as morphin and acid fuchsin. The study of the 

 last mentioned hypothesis and the underlying phenomenon has 

 been hampered by the fact that the distribution by the periphera. 

 mechanism is necessarily a slow one and since, at the warmer 

 seasons, frogs survive cardiectomy only a short time, it happens 

 that the animals die before the convulsant effect could make its 

 appearance. We have therefore tried to study the hypothesis by 

 the reversed method, that is, morphin injected first and the heart 

 removed later. This was carried out in several series, the doses 

 varying from 0.1 to 0.5 mg. of morphin per gram frog, and the 

 intervals between the injection and the subsequent removal of the 

 heart varying from a few minutes to 4 hours. We shall not enter 



