Physiological action of condurango / by T. Lauder Brunton.

  • Brunton, Thomas Lauder, Sir, 1844-1916.
Date:
[between 1870 and 1879?]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Physiological action of condurango / by T. Lauder Brunton. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

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    In this experiment the injection of about one-third of a gramme (5 grs.) of the extract into the jugular vein was followed by death, whereas in Experiment VIII. the injection of three times this dose into the peritoneal cavity of a smaller rabbit produced no effect. As drugs are generally absorbed with great rapidity from the peritoneal cavity the difference between the results of the two experiments could hardly be due to non-absorption of the Condurango in Experiment VIII. and it was therefore in all probability due to something not connected with the action of the drug. The hurried breathing, convulsions and death which followed the injection of the unfiltered solution of the extract into the jugular vein, as well as the distension of the cavities on the right side of the heart and the emptiness of those on its left, seemed to indicate that the death of the rabbit in Experiment IX. was due to the production of emboli in the pulmonary artery by the undissolved particles of extract. In order to test this conclusion the following experiment was made. Experiment X. One gramme (15'4grs.) of the extract was dissolved in 20 cub. cent, of warm water and filtered. When first thrown on the filter it passed rapidly through, but in the course of a minute or two it began to pass through very slowly. As soon as it began to do this the fluid was emptied out of the first filter and thrown upon a fresh one. In this way the filtrate was obtained quickly but might contain very fine particles which had passed through the filter and might have been removed by it afterwards. A cannula was placed in the jugular vein of a rabbit weighing 680 grammes (1 ^ lb.) and 10 cub. cent, of the filtrate were slowly injected into it. During the injection the respiration became hurried and occasionally a convulsive twitch of the limbs occurred. A few minutes afterwards five cub. cent, more were injected. The animal was then released. It tumbled much and seemed weak but could move about perfectly well. Its respiration was laboured. Twenty hours afterwards it seemed weak and languid and its respiration some- what hurried. In this experiment nearly f of a gramme were injected into the jugular vein of a rabbit weighing 680 grammes with the effect of producing hurried respiration and weakness. In Experiment IX. the injection of £ of a gramme was followed by the death of a rabbit weighing 1030 grammes. The difference between these experiments consisted in the solution of Condurango being filtered in Experiment X. and not in Experiment
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