Observations on the poison of the Upas Antiar / by Professor Albert Kölliker.
- Kölliker, Albrecht, 1817-1905.
- Date:
- [1857]
Licence: Public Domain Mark
Credit: Observations on the poison of the Upas Antiar / by Professor Albert Kölliker. Source: Wellcome Collection.
Provider: This material has been provided by The University of Glasgow Library. The original may be consulted at The University of Glasgow Library.
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![[From ^/ieProceedings o/iAeRoyalSociETY/or December 17, 1857-] Observations on the Poison of the Upas Antia?'. By Pro- fessor Albert Kolliker, of Wiirzburg. Communicated by Sir B. C. Brodie, Bart. Received December 1, 1857. During my stay in England, in the autumn of 1857, I was so fortunate as to acquire the rare poison of the famous Antiaris toxi- caria (Lesch.), with which no experiments have been tried since the time of Magendie, Brodie, Horsfield, and Schnell and Emmert (1809- 1815). I owe my specimens of the Antiar poison to my friend Prof. Christison, of Edinburgh, who had it from Borneo, and to Dr. Hors- field, of London, who collected it himself during his stay at Java in the beginning of this century; and as both specimens were fully active—as some prehminary experiments made in company with my friends Dr. Sharpey and Dr. Allen Thomson showed—I thought it well worth while to devote some time to the study of the poison, and to try to elucidate its manner of action on the animal organism. The following are the principal results which I obtained in my expe- riments with frogs, and I hope that they will not be deemed unworthy of notice by those who take an interest in the physiological action of poisons in general. The Antiar, like most other poisons, acts from the intestinal canal, and from wounds ; but it must be remarked, that it is much more ener- getic and rapid when introduced into a wound. The symptoms which are observed in frogs, in the latter case, are the following:—First of all, the voluntary movements become less energetic, and at length cease totally, 30 to 40 minutes after the introduction of the poison (after^21' min. and 1^ 21™ max.). Then follows a time in which reflex movements may be caused by stimulating the skin; but this faculty also is lost very soon, viz. at from 50 to GO minutes (at SS* min. and SS^ max.) ; and the animals die without the slightest trace of convulsions or tetanic spasm. If now the frogs are opened, we find that, without any exception, the heart has ceased to heat.](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b21477991_0003.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
