DAVID CERNA-PHYSIOLOGICAL ACTIONS OF SPARTEINE. 
71 
thus the cardiac viscus beats a great deal faster than in normal condi¬ 
tions. In either of these instances a graphic record of the pulse and 
pressure would show an opposite course of the curves. 
Returning to the study of the action of sparteine, it is found (and a 
careful examination of the tabular records here given shows it) that the 
drug does not act in a constant manner even in the normal animal. In 
other words, the agent produces a rise of the pressure^ sometimes, and 
sometimes a fall of the same from the beginning, these variations being 
dependent probably on the amount of the agent ingested, or upon which 
one of the actions predominates. 
The rise of pressure is sometimes accompanied with increased, and 
sometimes with diminished, pulse-rate. By eurarizing dogs, changes of 
pressure, which may be caused b}^ nervous excitability or respiratory in¬ 
fluences, are avoided. The rise of pressure under sparteine is also ob¬ 
tained in curarized animals. 
Previous section of the vagi does not prevent the same results as re¬ 
gards the pressure, and a similar irregularity in the relation of the pres¬ 
sure to the pulse, as in the normal animal, is sometimes observed. In 
dogs in which all nervous connection with the heart is destined, as- 
shown in Experiments XX and XXI, a rise of'the pressure is still pro¬ 
duced by sparteine. 
These results would lead one to suspect an action mainly of cardiac 
origin. But in the instances of previous vaso-motor paralysis b} r section 
of the spinal cord, the elevation of the arterial pressure, though it does 
occur, is not, comparatively speaking, so striking as in normal animals, 
I believe, therefore, that the action is a double one. 
The fall of the arterial pressure under the action of sparteine occurs 
not only in normal animals but also in curarized dogs as well as in those 
subjected to the various operations already sufficiently described. The 
influence would be obvious. When in the normal animal, however, the 
% 
pressure is far below the original point after a sufficiently large dose of 
sparteine, asphyxia on the one hand, and irritation of a sensitive nerve 
upon the other, are no longer able to effect a rise, evidently showing that 
the vaso-motor system is paralyzed. To produce a reduction of the pres¬ 
sure, other things being equal, the drug acts undoubtedly also on both 
the heart and the vaso-motor system. 
The Respiration .—Sparteine at first stimulates the respiratory function. 
The movements are increased in rate but not in depth. The same results 
are observed after previous section of the pneumogastric nerves. The 
action is therefore a centric one. Later, and especially under large 
amounts of the drug, the respiratory movements become notably de¬ 
creased in number, this depressant action being exercised in the normal 
dog as well as in those animals whose vagi have previouslj r been func- 
