On the effects of sulphate of atropia on the nervous system of frogs / by Sydney Ringer ... and William Murrell.

  • Sydney Ringer
Date:
[1876-1877]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: On the effects of sulphate of atropia on the nervous system of frogs / by Sydney Ringer ... and William Murrell. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    It will be seen from the table that in the three cases in which we obtained tetanus it was delayed for 25 hours, 9 hours, and hours respectively. In seven cases we tied the femoral vessels in the upper third of the thigh. Our mode of procedure was as follows:— We pithed and pegged the animal in the usual way, and having placed it in a prone position, carried an incision through the skin on the outer side of the thigh, when the vein coming into view was readily secured. By gently separating the muscles the artery was then seen and was tied as near the abdomen as possible, care being taken not to touch or otherwise injure the nerve. Finally the skin was brought together by a few sutures, and the operation was complete. In these cases the fact of the vessel having been securely ligatured was confirmed not only by the post-mortem examination, but usually by comparing by the aid of the microscope the condition of the circulation in the webs of the two feet. The details of these experiments are given in Table III. It will be seen from the foregoing table that in the three cases in which we obtained tetanus, it occurred simultaneously in the two legs. In two cases it was equal in degree in the two legs, and in the third case it was stronger in the poisoned than in the unpoisoned limb. We conclude then for these reasons that the late occurrence of tetanus in atropia poisoning is not due to paralysis of the motor nerves, but that it is owing to the cord being slowly affected. It appears that whilst the poison very quickly paralyses, it takes many hours, or even days, before it te- tanizes. In our experiments we obtained some rather unexpected results. Thus our observations lead us to conclude that atropia paralyses much more through its depressing action on the spinal cord than on the motor nerves. It is well known that considerable difference of opinion prevails on this point, ' some experimenters attributing the paralysis chiefly to the ; action of the poison on the motor nerves, and others to its iaction on the cord. Fraser in his article “On the connection between Chemical Constitution and Physiological Action,” Part II, says, atropia “produces paralysis chiefly by affecting
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