On the antagonism between pilocarpine and extract of amanita muscaria / by Sydney Ringer and William Murrell.
- Sydney Ringer
- Date:
- [1879]
Licence: Public Domain Mark
Credit: On the antagonism between pilocarpine and extract of amanita muscaria / by Sydney Ringer and William Murrell. 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.
2/10 page 136
![solution of nitrate of pilocarpine, wlien the heai*t almost immediately began to contract, and in one minute it beat well at 12 jier minute, and in forty-five minutes it beat 24. The strength of the contractions then again gi-ew ■weaker, till in thii-ty-eight minutes it beat very feebly at 20. Then we a])plied a little atropia, and at once the beats improved much in strength, rose to 24, and in twenty-two minutes the beats were good at 40 per minute, and six hours later the heart still contracted well at 36 per minute. On the same day we repeated the experiment. To the exposed heart we applied a small quantity of muscarin, and in eight minutes the pidsa^ tions fell from 40 to between 4 and 6 per minute. We then applied a little of the 10 p. c. solution of nitrate of pilocai-pine, and in half a minute the pulsations rose to 28 very good beats; in 13 minutes the pulsations began to grow feeble, and in 44 minutes dropped to 12 per minute, and were so feeble as to be scarcely visible. Five hours afterwards the heart was motionless, flaccid, and contained a little blood, having we felt no doubt hmg ceased to beat, since general reflex action had quite ceased; still we detei'mined to apply a little of the 1 p. c. solution of nitrate of pituria, not for a moment expecting that it could restore the lost cardiac action: but to our astonishment in six minutes the heart began to contract; in ten minutes it beat faintly at 16 per minute; in twelve miniites the con- tractions were much stronger; in fourteen minutes it beat fairly well at .18, and an hour and a quarter at 20 per minute. Last summer one of us, in conjunction with Mr E. A. Morshead, made a series of observations regarding the antagonism of pilocarpine for muscarin, making use of a solution of muscarin containing one part of alcoholic extract of amanita muscaria in four parts of water, and one part of nitrate of pilocarpine in twelve parts of water. July 10. Whilst the heart beat at 54 we applied the muscarin solution freely, which at once slowed the heart to 46, and gradually in the course of thirteen minutes the beats fell to 32 and grew feebler, so that at the expi- ration of this time the heart contracted hardly at all and remained widely distended. Then we applied some of the pilocarpine solution, when the contractions at once very much improved and became faii-ly strong, with unaltered frequency for ten minutes, and then rose to 44. The heart continued to beat fiiirly well at 44 for five hours; in ten houre after- wards it beat feebly at 44, and in twenty-four houi-s it had stopped, firmly contracted. July 10. Muscarin solution applied to the heart beating at 58 at once weakened the contractions and reduced them to 34, and this number gradually fell till in eleven minutes it had dropped to 22, when tlie auricles had ceased to contract and the ventricle contracted very slightly indeed. At this stage we freely applied the pilocarpine solution, and after a pause of some seconds the ventricle at once commenced woi-k fairly well at 28, and in three minutes both auricles and ventricle contracted firmly at 34; in fact as strongly as before the application of the muscarin, and so continued during nine minutes. On our retuni in two hours we found the heart stopped in wide diastole.](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b22300247_0004.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
