POISON OF THE UPAS ANTIAlt. 
447 
been tried since the time of Magendie, Brodie, Ilorsfield, and 
Schnell and Emmert (1809-1815). I owe my specimens of 
the Antiar poison to my friend Professor Christison, of Edin- 
burgh, who had it from Borneo, and to Dr. Horsfield, of 
London, who collected it himself during his stay at Java in 
the beginning of this century ; and as both specimens were 
fully active — as some preliminary experiments, made in 
company with my friends Dr. Sharpey and Dr. Allen Thom- 
son, showed — I thought it well worth while to devote some 
time to the study of the poison, and to try to elucidate its 
manner of action on 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 intes- 
tinal 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 move- 
ments become less energetic, and at length cease totally, 30 
to 40 minutes after the introduction of the poison (after 21m. 
minimum and Ih. 21m. maximum). Then follows a time in 
which reflex movements may be caused by stimulating the 
skin ; but this faculty also is lost very soon, viz., at from 50 
to 6 0 minutes (at 33m. minimum and 85m. maximum); and 
the animals die without the slightest trace of convulsions or 
tetanic spasm. If now the frogs are opened, we find that, 
without an)' exception, the heart has ceased to heat. 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 venticle 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, hypersemia. 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 movements are lost. At the same 
time the nerves are yet found excitable, 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 
