MR. J. PRIESTLEY ON THE PHYSIOLOGICAL ACTION OF VANADIUM. 525 
Table (continued). 
Time. 
Mean B. P. 
Pulse in -d i 
10 seconds. Kemarks. 
h. m. s. 
2 14 30 
2 14 50 
2 15 30 
2 16 20 
2 16 30 
2 17 0 
2 18 0 
2 18 30 
2 19 0 
2 20 0 
2 20 30 
2 21 10 
2 22 0 
42 
34 
71 
42 
50 
38 
42 
57 
32 
36 
56 
29 
7 
20 
28 
29 
18- 19 
23 j 
18 l 
33 f 
29 j 
19- 23 
33 
s } 
Pulse regular and feeble ; sweeping curves of B. P. line. 
Sweeping curves of B. P. line. 
Pulse regular and deeper ; sweeping curves of B. P. line. 
Pulse regular ; sweeping curves of B. P. line. 
Sweeping curves of B. P. line. 
Pulse irregular ; struggles. Sweeping curves of B. P. line. 
Pulse regular. Sweeping curves of B. P. line. 
Sweeping curves of B. P. line. 
Pulse cannot be counted; gasps: dead. 
This experiment, which was a very successful one, and deserves much weight, confirms 
the results of the preceding. From it we learn that under the action of vanadium- 
poisoning the blood-pressure commences to sink, and never again regains its former 
height ; that this decline is at first pretty regular and constant ; that, after a time, a 
series of rises and falls succeeds, during which the blood-pressure gradually traces on 
the rotating cylinder long, sweeping curves, which are not only not due to, but are 
altogether unaccompanied by, struggles or convulsions, thus showing that the muscular 
movements, which in preceding experiments coincided with similar rises and falls, were 
not, in all probability, the cause of them. In this experiment the rate of rotation 
of the cylinder was checked by the electro-magnetic marker, in consequence of which a 
full and accurate list of numbers denoting the rapidity of heart-beats was obtained. 
From this we gather that there is a decline in the rapidity of the heart as well as of 
the pressure of the blood, which commences almost as soon as injection is complete. 
This decline is also marked by periods during which the heart tends to its original 
rapidity of motion, without, however, at any time reaching it. It may be noticed that 
the variations in blood-pressure and in pulse are not always coincident. 
In the following experiments injection took place into veins. 
