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ROSCOE R. BELL. 
of a brown colored fluid will at this time accompany each motion. 
About two to two and a half hours from the time of injection the 
effects are commencing to pass off, and during this short time an 
almost incredible amount of fseces will have been excreted. De¬ 
tails on this point will be given below. Those who have had no 
previous experience of the drug and the results obtained will 
regard it as magical and marvelous.” 
From this it would appear that in eserine we have a drug of 
the highest value in the treatment of intestinal obstruction, and 
even though the condition be that of intusussception or valvulus, 
the violent peristalsis would have more of a tendency to over¬ 
come the accident than anything possibly in the pharmacopoeia. 
More especially is it of value since we possess nothing whereby 
the evacuation of the bowels can be accomplished in less than 
twenty-four hours, and in many of our cases every hour's delay is 
an element of the most serious danger. 
© 
The symptoms produced when pilocarpine is combined with 
eserine, in addition to those detailed as being produced by eserine 
alone, are salivation of more or less intensity, and increased intes¬ 
tinal peristalsis, with no increase of pain. Salivation is some¬ 
times extreme, and usually commences in three to five minutes 
after administration; the secretion pours from the mouth, the 
horse is constantly slobbering and moving the tongue, and large 
quantities of saliva are swallowed. This salivation need not 
cause alarm, as it is the physiological action of the pilocarpine. 
The quantity of saliva swallowed and the stimulation of the pan¬ 
creatic secretion may in the intestinal canal act most usefully, 
both mechanically and chemically. 
A point of great importance is that eserine may be adminis¬ 
tered even after other purgatives have been given, without des¬ 
troying or increasing the action of either. 
Prof. Smith concludes that the action of eserine on the intes¬ 
tinal canal of the horse is due (1) to an increase of the peristaltic 
action caused by the influence of the drug on involuntary mus¬ 
cular fibres, and (2) to an increase in the fluids secreted from the 
mucous membrane of the intestines. 
The experimenter appends to his article some observations 
