Actio}t of Nicotine and other Pyridine Bases upon Mnscle. 33^ 



It is satisfactory to find that the results by the carbon-monoxide method 

 agree closely with those hitherto obtained by the aerotonometer method. 

 The reasons why Fredericq and Krogh have obtained no evidence in favour 

 of the secretion theory are also evident. Still more satisfactory is it to find 

 that the process of absorption of oxygen by the lungs is regulated, just as is 

 the breathing itself, in accordance with the physiological requirements of the 

 organism. But for the secretory process the blood would be very 

 incompletely saturated during muscular work, when five, or even ten, 

 times as nmch oxygen is absorbed as during rest. During rest, on the 

 other hand, the secretory process is not required, and would be a waste of 

 physiological effort. 



The Action of Nicotine and other Pyridine Bases upon Muscle. 

 By V. H. Veley, F.E.S., and A. D. Waller, F.R.S. 



(Received February 22,— Read March 10, 1910.) 



iN'icotine, or pyridyl »-methyl pyrrolidine, C5H4N.C4H7N(CH3) (m.w. = 162), 

 best known to physiologists in this country in connection with its action 

 on sympathetic ganglia as pointed out by Langley, is generally regarded 

 as having little or no action upon muscle. 



Accordmg to recent observations of Langley the drug does, however, act 

 upon muscle in a peculiar way, that has led him to a theoretical interpretation 

 which we shall consider later. Our original purpose was the simpler one of 

 comparing upon muscle the action of nicotine and allied substances. 



We have made, independently, two separate series of observations, one 

 during September, 1908, with nicotine tartrate, C10HuN2.2C4H6O6.2H2O = 498, 

 the other during September, 1909, with the free base, following the method 

 described in previous communications, according to which the muscle is 

 excited at intervals throughout observation. 



In both series, with differences of detail attributable to the fact that the 

 tartrate in solution is probal)ly to some extent hydrolysed, the nicotine record 

 is unmistakably characteristic, and not presented by any other substance that 

 we have examined. Both in the case of tlie salt and in that of the base, the 

 drug in moderate concentration produced : — 



(1) Contracture with twitching. 



(2) A first diminution of contraction not i*eaching to complete abolition. 



