48 
TRANSACTIONS OF THE TEXAS ACADEMY OF SCIENCE. 
tigrammes of the medicament produce no perceptible influence on the 
human brain or spinal cord, although larger amounts cause headache, 
vertigo, palpitations, and tingling in the extremities. Cardiac pain, 
redness of the face, and loss of motor power in the lower extremities, 
are symptoms which have been observed by Garand.* 
The preceding evidence, and the re¬ 
sults of my own general experiments on 
frogs and mammals, principally dogs, 
lead me to state that two distinct stages 
of general poisoning may be produced 
by sparteine: one characterized by ex¬ 
citement, especially under small doses; 
and the other by depression of both 
the higher and the lower nervous sys¬ 
tem, and, in fact, of all the other func¬ 
tions, particularly when large amounts 
of the drug have been ingested. In 
the first instance, that is, when minute 
quantities of the drug are administered 
to both the batrachian and the warm¬ 
blooded animal, the period of excita¬ 
bility is generally followed by inco¬ 
ordination of movements, a period of 
quietude and finally of stupor. During 
the excitement, the animal becomes 
restless, breathes more rapidly than in 
normal conditions, exhibits muscular 
tremors, increased reflexes, and accele¬ 
ration of the pulse-rate, and sooner or 
later is attacked by either clonic or te¬ 
tanic convulsions. In the second stage, 
particularly when the dose has been 
sufficiently toxic, symptoms of depres¬ 
sion are manifested, in which an em¬ 
barrassed respiration, a slow, but strong 
pulse, general muscular relaxation, and 
true paralysis, are observed. The ani¬ 
mal passes into a kind of stupor, not 
precisely that of sleep, however, and 
finally dies, generally from failure of the respiration. Death is often 
preceded by convulsions. The heart usually stops in systole, although a 
diastolic arrest is not an infrequent occurrence. After death, both nerves 
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