230 
Proceedings of the Royal Society 
iodide of methyl to the natural alkaloids. As the iodides of the 
complex ammoniums thus produced are, in most cases, sparingly 
soluble in water, they have also examined the action of the cor- 
responding sulphates. 
The poisonous alkaloids thus examined, and included in this 
paper, are strychnia, brucia, thebaia, codeia, morphia, and nicotia. 
The authors give details of the processes followed in obtaining the 
iodide and the sulphate of the methyl-derivatives of these bases, 
and they describe their physiological effects. 
Twelve grains of iodide of methyl-strychnium,* subcutaneously 
administered, produced no effect on a rabbit, weighing three pounds. 
Fifteen grains were recovered from, after symptoms ; and twenty 
grains was a fatal dose. When exhibited by the stomach, twenty 
grains of this compound did not cause any symptom ; while the 
same rabbit was rapidly killed by one-tenth of a grain of strychnia, 
given in exactly the same way. Twenty grains of iodide of methyl- 
strychnium contain about fourteen grains of strychnia. 
The sulphate of methyl-strychnium, being a much more soluble 
salt than the iodide, was found to have a much smaller poisonous 
dose. One grain was fatal to a rabbit, by subcutaneous exhibition. 
Eight-tenths of a grain were recovered from, while five-tenths did 
not cause any symptom. The rabbit that recovered after the 
administration of eight-tenths of a grain of sulphate of methyl- 
strychnium, died shortly after one-twentieth of a grain of strychnia 
was injected under the skin. 
Both the iodide and the sulphate of methyl-strychnium produced 
symptoms altogether different from those of strychnia. There 
were no convulsions, nor was there the slightest exaggeration of 
the reflex function; the symptoms were those of paralysis, and death 
was produced by the asphyxia that this occasioned. The authors 
further investigated this action by localised poisoning in frogs ; 
and they have demonstrated that iodide and sulphate of methyl- 
strychnium paralyse the peripheral terminations (end-organs) of the 
motor nerves, and, therefore, possess exactly the same action as 
curare (wourali) has. 
Brucia and thebaia act in the same way as strychnia, and it was 
* The action of iodide of ethyl-strychnium was also examined, and found 
to be the same as that of iodide of methyl-strychnium. 
