526 INJECTION OF AMMONIA INTO THE CIRCULATION. 
resides in the potash, and is so great that Nobiling recom¬ 
mends the ammonio-tartrate of antimony, instead of the 
potassio-tartrate, for therapeutical purposes. We draw atten¬ 
tion to Nobiling’s conclusions, not because we are convinced 
of their soundness, but to illustrate the need for a sounder 
therapeutical science, that will tend to harmonise common 
and scientific observation. It is quite possible that potash 
has a depressing power on the heart. But there is a terrible 
inconsistency between Nobiling^s conclusions and some of 
our best daily practice.— Lancet* 
ON THE INJECTION OF AMMONIA INTO THE 
CIRCULATION. 
At the April meeting of the Medical Society of Victoria, 
under the presidency of Dr. Bird, Professor Halford read 
an interesting paper on the Injection of Ammonia into the 
Veins,'’^ with the object of demonstrating the perfect safety 
with which ammonia can be injected into the circulation, 
not only through the medium of the veins, but directly into 
the heart. Professor Halford detailed a series of experi¬ 
ments of a highly interesting character recently made by 
him, in which vital reaction had been shown to be the 
certain consequence of the employment of this alkali by 
injection. The foolish temerity’^ with which the possibi¬ 
lity of doing this safely had been denied by persons who had 
never attempted the experiment themselves was severely 
commented upon in the course of the discussion, and the 
value of Professor Halford^s discovery was pointed out as 
bearing upon the treatment of all affections in which a 
powerful heart-stimulant is indicated; in proof which Mr. 
Fitzgerald related a case of pyaemia, in which, though death 
eventually took place, life was considerably prolonged by 
ammoniacal injection. As a means of resuscitation in syncope 
from chloroform it was considered to afford a most valuable 
resource, and Mr. Gillbee stated his intention of employing 
it on the first favorable occasion. Professor Halford^s paper 
did not entertain the question of the manner in which 
ammonia acts in antagonising the influence of snake and 
other poisons. That part of the subject he stated, he reserved 
for a future paper. A letter, however, was read by Dr. Neild, 
from Dr. Day, of Geelong, in which the action of snake virus ■ 
and other similar poisons was shown to be ascribable to their 
