302 



THE ACTION OF DRUGS 



animals. The advantages of such experiments he 

 early illustrated by his investigation on the upas- 

 poison ; and afterwards by a research on the 

 then newly discovered alkaloid, strychnia. . . . 

 He demonstrated the action of this substance 

 upon the spinal cord, by experiments upon the 

 lower animals, so thoroughly, that subsequent 

 investigations have added but little to his results." 



Or take Professor Fraser's account of digi- 

 talis : — 



"It was introduced as a remedy for dropsy ; 

 and, on the applications which were made of it 

 for the treatment of that disease, a slowing action 

 upon the cardiac movements was observed, which 

 led to its acquiring the reputation of a cardiac 

 sedative. Numerous observations were made on 

 man by the originators of its application, by Dr 

 Sanders and many other physicians, in which special 

 attention was paid to its effects upon the circula- 

 tion ; but no further light was thrown upon its 

 remarkable properties, with the unimportant excep- 

 tion that in some cases it was found to excite the 

 circulation. It was not until the experimental 

 method was applied in its investigation, in the first 

 instance by Claude Bernard, and subsequently by 

 Dybkowsky, Pelikan, Meyer, Boehm, and Schmiede- 

 berg, that the true action of digitalis upon the cir- 

 culation was discovered. It was shown that the 

 effects upon the circulation were not in any exact 

 sense sedative, but, on the contrary, stimulant and 

 tonic, rendering the action of the heart more power- 

 ful, and increasing the tension in the blood-vessels. 

 The indications for its use in disease were thereby 

 revolutionised, and at the same time rendered more 



