EXPERIMENTS ON CAMPHOR. 
293 
I 4 
vapour proceeding* from it, since, after having produced die 
greatest effects on the system, neither its volume nor its weight 
appear to be sensibly diminished. He believes that it is by the 
medium of the nerves that its influence is propagated to the 
rest of the system. It appears to him that its action is sedative. 
He thinks that it destroys the mobility of the nervous power, and 
that the symptoms of stupor, convulsions, delirium, and fury, 
which it occasions, may be explained by the struggle which fol¬ 
lows between the sedative power of the. drug and the re-action 
of the system. He adds, that he cannot believe that inflamma¬ 
tion can take place, because the proper balance of the system 
follows so quickly after having taken the largest doses of cam¬ 
phor. We shall not enter with the author into the examination 
which he makes of the diseases in which camphor has been suc¬ 
cessfully used, because that subject w ould lead us away from 
the plan that we have adopted. We have, nevertheless, thought 
it necessary to make know n the opinions of these authors on the 
effects of this drug. 
Little satisfied with these notions, we have thought it useful to 
make some experiments on the horse wfith this drug. 
A first experiment w as made on a Polish draught mare fifteen 
years old. The pulse before the experiment was thirty-seven. 
The beatings of the heart were likewise counted. The respira¬ 
tion a little accelerated gave twenty-six movements, or thirteen 
inspirations and thirteen respirations in a minute. Half an ounce 
of camphor was administered to this animal in the form of a 
ball. Half an hour after, convulsive movements of the lips were 
observed; the pulse became full, accelerated, giving forty-six 
beats: the respiration became also more frequent, and the tem¬ 
perature of the body w as found to be augmented. The mucous 
membranes appeared reddened, although they were pale before 
the experiment. At the end of an hour the pulse w r as fifty-four, 
and stronger. She manifested greater sensibility on the skull, and 
there w ere convulsive movements of the muscles of the tail: the 
air respired was hot, and exhaled a strong odour of camphor. 
The animal being examined two hours after the administration 
of the medicine, was much calmer, and the pulse less frequent. 
The mucous membranes appeared to be less red; and at length 
the temperature of the skin became equally lowered. 
That which struck us in this experiment was, that all the 
symptoms that attracted our attention had disappeared in three 
hours after the administration of the medicine, and that the 
animal had returned to her ordinary state; she had drank and 
eaten her rations as usual. \ his last circumstance determined us 
to make her take four ounces the next day in the same form. 
