100 



Selections. 



[No. 7, NEW SERIES. 



the animal organism. The following are the principal results which 

 I obtained in my experiments with frogs, and I hope that they will 

 not be deemed unworthy of notice by those who take an interest in 

 the physiological action of poisons in general. 



The Antiar, like most other poisons, acts from the intestinal 

 canal, and from wounds, but it must be remarked, that it is much 

 more energetic and rapid when introduced into a wound. The 

 symptoms which are observed in frogs, in the latter case, are the 

 following. First of all, the voluntary movements become less ener- 

 getic, and at length cease totally, 30 or 40 minutes after the intro- 

 duction of the poison (after 21m. min. and lh. 21m. max.). Then 

 follows a time in which reflex movements may be caused by stimu- 

 lating the skin, but this faculty also is lost very soon, viz., at from 

 50 to 60 minutes (at 33m. min and 85m. max.), and the animals 

 die without the slightest trace of convulsions or tetanic spasm. If 

 now the frogs are opened, we find that, without any exception, the 

 heart has ceased to beat. The auricles are dilated, the ventricle 

 corrugated, rather small, and generally red, as if blood had been 

 extravasated into its muscular parietes^ but very soon the exposure 

 of the heart to the air causes the ventricle to shrink a little more, 

 and to become pale and stiff, as if in the state of rigor mortis. All 

 interior organs, especially the lungs, liver, stomach, intestine, and 

 kidneys, are gorged with blood, and in a state of great, especially 

 venous, hypercemia. The blood is fluid and rather dark ; but soon 

 coagulates when exposed to the air, and assumes a brighter colour. 

 The lymphatic hearts cease to beat as soon as the reflex move- 

 ments are lost. At the same time the nerves are yet found excit- 

 able, but their power is very low, and generally vanishes in the 

 second hour after the application of the poison. The same must 

 be said of the muscles, which* contract very feebly when directly 

 stimulated by galvanism, and in most cases lose their power totally 

 in the second or third hour, and generally a little after their nerves. 

 The rigor mortis begins early, sometimes in the sixth hour, and is 

 generally well established at the eighteenth hour. 



Amongst all these symptoms, to which we may add some signs 

 of vomiting occurring now and then, there was none which attract- 



