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

  • Ringer, Sydney, 1835-1910
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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    Pithed and Pegged Frogs poisoned with Atropia. © ft Nov. 29 © «4-l 0 -4-3 c3 o -t-3 • ft to -4-3 0 ® © eg GO -4-3 <3 eg ft 0 O • .« © +> to tic P ft ft o O • r—< <x> S-4 £ C S <1 tclS 02 U2 a-1 o ft 20 grammes 24 30 20 }> 1 _3 5 3 1 0 2 5 1 TIT l 6 17 1 15 4 3 1 15 4 3 Average W) Q 'Jr eg ft O © 2 minutes 4 minutes 9 minutes 3 minutes 4‘5 minutes Table showing the effect of mechanical arrest of circulation in pithed and pegged frogs. Nov. 29 >> 24 minutes 55 minutes 24 minutes Average 34 minutes In these observations, sulphate of atropia caused, on an average, complete paralysis in 4*5 minutes, whilst mechanical arrest of the circulation required, on an average, 34 minutes. In the first of the atropia cases recorded in this table, we tied the femoral vessels before poisoning, and yet the paralysis be¬ came complete in both posterior limbs in 2 minutes. We conclude, then, that atropia has a direct paralysing action on the cord, and does not affect it through its depressing action on the circulation. In a paper in the volume of the Medico-Chirurgical Trans¬ actions for 1876, we have endeavoured to show that tetanus is not due to stimulation or an excited condition of the cord, but to a diminution or loss of resistive force in the reflex portion of the cord. This resistive force localizes the impressions conveyed through the nerves to the central nervous system, and when it is destroyed an impression can diffuse itself throughout the cord and produce a general evolution of force, which being conveyed by all the motor nerves to every muscle, produces tetanus. We believe that the action of atropia confirms this view, or