EDITORIAL. 
189 
Narcotina,  almost  inert  in  man,  destroys  birds  when  employed  hypo- 
dermlcally,  in  doses  of  from  2  to  7  grains. 
Codeia  is  a  fatal  convulsing  agent  in  birds  (pigeons). 
Meconin  causes  emesis  when  given  internally,  and  is  harmless  placed 
under  the  skin. 
Narcein  has  no  perceptible  influence  except  to  disturb  slightly  the  re- 
spiratory functions. 
Crytopia  in  doses  from  a  fifth  to  half  a  grain,  no  effect. 
None  of  the  agents  cause  sleep  in  the  pigeon,  duck  or  chicken." 
That  narcotina  should  be  a  bird  poison  is  a  remarkable  new  fact  de- 
veloped in  these  researches.  The  whole  paper  is  full  of  interest,  and  is 
readily  accessible  in  the  journal  above  quoted. 
On  the  physiological  action  of  the  alkaloids  Viridia,  Veratroidia  and 
Resin  of  Veratrum  Viride,  and  of  the  Veratria  of  commerce.  By  Ho- 
ratio C.  Wood,  Jr.,  M.D.,  &c.  Published  in  the  Americal  Journal  of 
the  Medical  Sciences  for  January,  1870;  pp.  18 
It  will  be  remembered  by  our  readers  that  the  paper  of  Charles  Bul- 
lock, published  in  the  37th  volume,  1865,  page  321,  of  this  journal,  and 
continued  in  the  38th  volume,  1866,  page  97,  announced  the  isolation  of 
two  distinct  alkaloids  in  veratrum  viride,  (which,  by  the  by.  Dr.  H.  C.Wood 
has  incorrectly  attributed  to  the  Proceedings  of  the  American  Phar- 
maceutical Association.)  These  alkaloids  have  been  named  viridia  and 
veratroidia  by  Dr.  G.  B.  Wood,  in  the  13th  edition  of  the  United  States 
Dispensatory,  now  about  issuing  from  the  press,  and  Dr.  H.  C.  Wood  has 
undertaken  the  study  of  them  in  the  paper  above  announced.  The  re- 
sults are  summed  up  as  follows  : — 
1.  "  Viridia  appears  to  be  but  slightly,  if  at  all,  locally  irritant. 
2.  It  has  no  action  whatever  upon  the  alimentary  canal ;  never  pro- 
ducing either  vomiting  or  purging. 
3.  It  exerts  no  direct  influence  upon  the  brain,  and  the  pupil  is  not 
affected  by  it,  except  it  be  an  indirect  dilatation  of  it  before  death. 
4.  It  is  a  spinal  motor  depressant  (probably  directly  so)  producing 
death  by  paralysis  of  the  respiratory  nerve  centres,  and  is  without  action 
on  the  muscles  or  nerves. 
b.  It  is  a  direct  depressant  to  the  circulation,  lowering  the  force  and 
rapidity  of  the  blood  streams,  slowing  the  action  of  the  heart,  and  finally 
affecting  the  force  of  the  single  beat  independent  of  any  spinal  action  it 
may  exert. 
Veratroidia  appears  to  be  physiolgically  as  well  as  chemically,  in  many 
respects,  midway  between  viridia  and  veratria.    Its  influence  is  : — 
1.  Locally  it  is  somewhat  irritant. 
2.  It  is  an  irritant  emetic  and  sometimes  cathartic.  , 
3.  It  exerts  no  direct  influence  upon  the  brain  or  upon  the  pupil. 
4.  It  is  a  direct  spinal  motor  depressant,  producing  death  by  asphyxia, 
