SCIENTIFIC SUMMARY. 
103 
The union of the processes of the connective tissue corpuscles with the 
lymph-vessels could he distinctly seen. That the granular contents of the 
corpuscles and lymph-vessels were really urates was proved hy the well- 
known reaction with nitric acid and ammonia. The author concludes, from 
these experiments, that the urates arise in the connective tissue, and are 
carried away from it hy the lymph-vessels. — ( Virchow's Archiv ., Jan. 1866). 
A new Narcotic : Wrightia antidysenterica. — M. Theodore Husemann has 
been studying the effects of this plant. It is of Indian origin, and it3 
hark and seeds are much employed in the East Indies as a remedy for 
dysentery, diarrhoea, indigestion, fevers, and bilious affections. M. Huse- 
mann has experimented on toads, frogs, pigeons, and rabbits. He finds that 
doses of from 150 to 200 milligrammes of alcoholic extract of the seeds is 
all but poisonous to batrachians, and that these animals never resist doses 
of from 250 to 300 milligrammes. Doses of from 2-5 to 4 grammes kill 
pigeons and rabbits, while rather smaller doses cause only a certain stupor. 
The effects of the poison become generally visible on whales about a quarter 
of an hour after its administration, and on pigeons and rabbits after from 
thirty to forty-five minutes j death takes place in the latter case at from 
three to four hours and a half. At first a paralysis of the muscles is appa- 
rent, then a suppression of the reflex motions. There is no noticeable 
alteration in the pupillary diameter, nor in the movements of the heart. 
Death results from the paralysis of the thoracic muscles. 
Physiological Action of Helleborine and Helleboreine. — M. Marine has been 
making some physiological experiments on batrachians, birds, and mammals, 
with the two active principles of hellebore, which he calls helleborine and 
helleboreine. The helleboreine acts on the heart in the same manner as 
digitalis. Used subcutaneously it acts in much smaller doses than digi- 
talis, and similarly produces slackening of the pulse. In stronger doses, on 
the contrary, it causes an enormous acceleration, soon followed by a sudden 
paralysis of the heart. With regard to the respiration, its acceleration or 
slackening is in an inverse ratio to the change of the heart’s beat ; it is 
rapid at the commencement, slow at the end. Helleboreine produces vio- 
lent vomitings and dysenteric diarrhoea, accompanied by acute pains, in 
birds, dogs, and cats. It singularly excites the secretion of urine, and pro- 
duces hypersemia of the pelvic organs, particularly in the female. After 
making allowance for its influence on the circulation and the respiration, it 
acts also on the nervous system, producing tremors and sometimes convul- 
sions. Helleborine. — Helleborine has the property, in common with helle- 
boreine, that it does not act on the external teguments, and that it -sharply 
irritates the intestine. 
Presence of Copper in the Animal Organism. — M. Blasius, by minute ana- 
lyses, has established the presence of copper in the tissues of mammals. 
Some of M. Blasius’ results are embodied in the following table : — 
Ox liver 
Weight 
Grammes. 
. 1865 
Proportion of Oxide 
of Copper to the 100. 
0-0007 
Sheep’s liver 
. 474 
0-0010 
Liver of a man 
. 1440 
, inappreciable 
Spleen of do 
. 101 
0-0007 
Kidneys of do 
. 200 
0-0007 
Heart of do 
. 200 
0 0007 
