OF THE BAEK OF ERYTHROPHLEUM GUINENSE. 
637 
month, and was never observed after subcutaneous injection. The purgative action is 
therefore due to the local action of the drug on the intestines. 
The following is a brief account of two experiments we made in investigating the 
action of the drug when injected into the stomach. 
Experiment XXI. A. — May 10. 
10 cub. centims. of an infusion of the watery extract of the bark, with the dregs 
which were deposited when the infusion cooled, were injected into the stomach of a 
large cat. It appeared quite well for forty minutes, and then vomited. Within the 
next two hours and a half it vomited five times. A little more than five hours after 
the exhibition of the drug it passed some solid faeces with great forcing, and from 
that time recovered. 
Experiment XXI. B. — May 10. 
10^ cub. centims. of a cold aqueous infusion of the pounded bark, containing nume- 
rous fine particles in suspension, were injected into the stomach of a small ill-nourished 
cat. Vomiting came on thirty-five minutes afterwards, and free purging an hour and 
a half after the injection. During the rest of that day and on the next it was very 
feeble, but showed no special symptoms, and it died quietly on the morning of May 12. 
Comparative Action of the Alcoholic and Watery Extracts. 
The action of the alcoholic and watery extracts of casca, when administered sub- 
cutaneously to cats in large doses, is almost identical ; and their activity as poisons 
appears to be about equal, the watery extract, if any thing, being rather the more 
powerful. 
Experiment XXII. — April 28. 
Two equal quantities of the alcoholic and watery extracts were dissolved in equal 
volumes of alcohol and water respectively. The quantities were 3 grammes of the 
extracts and 4 cub. centims. of the fluids. These solutions were injected beneath the 
skin of two cats of the same size. In the case of the alcoholic extract vomiting came 
on fifteen minutes after injection, with the other symptoms of poisoning by the drug 
(i. e. respiratory difficulty and staggering gait). The vomiting was repeated violently, 
and the animal died one hour and fifteen minutes after injection, death being preceded 
by general convulsions. 
In the case of the watery extract vomiting did not come on for thirty-five minutes, 
but death occurred, with symptoms similar to those of the former case, in one hour 
after the injection. 
In order to ascertain whether the vomiting was due to the action of the drug upon 
the sensory nerves in the stomach itself, after it had been conveyed to that organ by 
the circulation, or to its action upon the nervous centre in the medulla oblongata 
regulating the movements of vomiting, the vagi were cut, and the chief sensory nerves 
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