436 
Proceedings of the Royal Society 
from two to ten seconds, and which is succeeded by a series of 
clonic spasms. During the tetanus, the posterior extremities are 
often more or less abducted, and immediately after it they become 
flaccid; but the anterior extremities almost always remain rigidly 
flexed. As a somewhat later period, tetanus of a still more violent 
character may be excited; the attacks are now emprosthotonic, 
and during them, the posterior extremities are rigidly extended, 
while at their conclusion, not only do the anterior extremities 
remain arched, but the head is bent downwards by tonic spasm of 
the muscles of the abdomen, chest, and neck. 
A succession of such attacks may be produced by repeated touches 
of the skin, but, after a number have been excited in quick succes- 
sion, the subsequent convulsions become shorter and rather less 
powerful, though they reacquire all their former violence after a 
period of rest. 
When the animal is not suffering from an attack of tetanus, it 
may execute various movements, but these are performed with 
difficulty, even when they do not themselves excite spasms and 
convulsions, and it is apparent that the power of voluntary move- 
ment is still considerably impaired. 
The period during which this tetanic condition remains w r as 
found to vary greatly in different experiments. It has been 
observed to continue for only a few hours, or for several days, and, 
in one experiment, for as long as fourteen days. 
This description indicates the usual characters and sequence of 
the phenomena with such a dose of atropia as produces tetanus. 
Experiments have, however, been made in which the functions of 
t he cerebro-spinal nervous system were not observed to be completely 
paralysed, in the stage of the poisoning antecedent to the appearance 
of tetanus. Only impairment of these functions was observed, but, 
as the state of flaccidity often lasts for several days, it is obviously 
impossible to make observations so frequently during this period 
as to authorize the assertion that total destruction did not occur. 
It is almost superfluous to allude to the resemblance between the 
tetanic symptoms of atropia and those of strychnia. There are, 
however, certain peculiarities connected with the tetanus which 
atropia causes — altogether apart from the remarkable fact that this 
tetanus succeeds paralysis — which distinguishes it from that of 
