STRYCHNIA. 
29 
December \th .—The spasmodic motion of the head has nearly 
ceased. The bird feeds well, and its general health does not ap¬ 
pear to be in the slightest degree affected. Continue treatment. 
ll^A.—No change. Give half a grain morning and night. 
16M.—This enormous dose makes no impression upon him. 
Continue medicine. 
20^A.—No change. Give two-thirds of a grain at each dose. 
The medicine was administered, and we passed on to other patients; 
but on our return, not half an hour afterwards, we found that his 
bold erect position was, for the first time, changed. He was crouch¬ 
ing on his chest, but with the head erect, and fixed, as it were, by 
some tetanic spasm, with a slight convulsive motion of the wings. 
We found that the neck was stiffened—the wings moved with diffi¬ 
culty, and the claws were firmly clenched. We contrived to get 
down two drachms of our aperient mixture,—castor oil, and syrups 
of buckthorn and white poppies,—but in an hour afterwards he was 
dead. Being a beautiful specimen, he was sent to the Museum. 
This was from first to last a case of genuine amaurosis —a total 
loss of sight, unattended by any apparent local or constitutional 
cause. The pupil was somewhat dilated compared with that of a 
companion in the same cage, and presented all the clear shining 
blackness of a healthy eye. I used to fancy that it was sometimes 
a little more dilated than at others. It was not accompanied, as I 
have already said, by any impairment of the digestive function, for 
the bird was almost as fat as a pullet. I could have wished to have 
had the opportunity of dissecting the head, but it was too fine a 
bird to be taken from the Museum. 
I am not aware that the power of the strychnine has ever been 
tried on this disease in the human being, or on our patients; but I 
do think that this will be allowed to have been a legitimate expe¬ 
riment, considering how probable it is that in many cases it de¬ 
pends on some particular affection or disease of the optic nerve and 
retina, or of the fifth nerve. 
The most extraordinary thing about the case is the immense 
quantity of this poison that was administered—no less than 95 
grains, or scruples. Even half a grain, morning and night, 
seemed to make no impression. 
