248 
ROSCOE R. BELL. 
ORIGINAL ARTICLES. 
THERAPEUTIC PROGRESS. 
SOME RECENT OBSERVATIONS UPON, AND EXPERIMENTS WITH, 
IMPORTANT VETERINARY REMEDIES. 
Reviewed by Rosooe R. Bell, D.V.S., Brooklyn. 
THE PHYSIOLOGICAL ACTION AND THERAPEUTICAL USES OF ESERINE 
IN THE HORSE. 
In an interesting article contributed to the April number of 
the Veterinary Journal by Prof. Fred. Smith, of the English 
Army Veterinary School at Aldershot, the writer gives the re¬ 
sults of many experiments made by himself and assistant, Profes¬ 
sor Chas. .Rutherford, with this powerful drug. Considering the 
length of time which it usually takes to produce catharsis in 
horses, and the very many instances in which an immediate action 
is of vital importance, these tests cannot fail to be of great prac¬ 
tical value to veterinarians everywhere. 
He says the drug is derived from the physostigma vene- 
nosum, or Calabar bean, which is indigenous to Western Africa.. 
It contains two alkaloids—eserine or physostigmine and cala¬ 
barine. The two alkaloids possess different properties : physos¬ 
tigmine or eserine contracts the pupil when applied locally to the 
eye, causes contraction of voluntary and involuntary muscles, and 
in large doses produces paralysis of respiration; while calabarine 
produces symptoms of tetanus, closely allied to those brought on 
by strychnia. The preparations of eserine which Smith employed 
were the sulphate, salycilate, and the latter combined with pilo¬ 
carpine. The sulphate appeared to produce more colicy pains 
than the salycilate, while the latter, combined with pilocarpine, 
was more efficient and required a smaller dose. The dose depends 
upon the size of the horse and the manner of administration. He 
injected it both hypodermically and intratrachically, and prefers 
the latter method, giving the following advantages : It causes less 
pain than when injected beneath the skin; it is more rapidly ab¬ 
sorbed ; it acts more quickly; and there is less chance of loss of 
