Notes of three lectures on the physiological action of strychnia / delivered by George Harley.

  • Harley, George, 1829-1896.
Date:
[1856]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Notes of three lectures on the physiological action of strychnia / delivered by George Harley. 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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    Each is suffering from convulsions, and these convulsions are of the kind usually termed tetanic, from the spastic rigidity of the voluntary muscles. One of the frogs, you observe, is in a state of emprosthotonos; its hind legs are stretched out, its back is curved upwards, its fore-legs are crossed upon its breast, and its hands tightly pressed against each other, while its head is bent inwards; and, during the spasm, the animal, were it not for its fore-legs being crossed upon its breast, would rest entirely upon the point of its nose and the toes of its hind-feet. Emprosthotonos is not the only form which the complaint assumes in the frog. The frog to which the strychnia was ad- ministered through a wound is in a state of opisthotonos; his head is thrown back, his hind-legs are slightly raised, and he rests entirely upon his belly and fore-legs. In the human subject labouring under tetanus, opisthotonos is most common; while in the frog, judging from my own observations, empro- sthotonos seems more frequent. All three animals before us have lock-jaw. The spasms, though they follow each other rapidly, are not, you will observe, continuous; and the intervals between them are longer if the animal is allowed to remain quiet. A knock on the table, a stamp on the floor, or even the mere scratching of the tablecloth in the vicinity of the animal, induces a paroxysm. This arises from the superexcited state of the nervous system, and must not be regarded as a symptom pecu- liar to tetanus; for it is occasionally observed in other diseases. Seven years ago I had under my care a child suffering from tabes mesenterica, ending in perforation of the bowels. In this case the slightest noise in the room, as the falling of a key or spoon, would bring on spasm of the abdominal muscles; and from the noise of the flatulence and the undulations of the abdominal walls during a paroxysm, I even believed that there was a severe peristaltic action of the intestines, their involun- tary muscles, which are as we well know exceedingly sensitive to mechanical irritation, having been thrown by the mere noise into violent action. The next point to be considered is, the action of strychnia upon the body. It was formerly believed that all poisons which killed rapidly acted by a direct influence upon the nervous system. This is, however, a mistake, as no poison can injure or destroy life before it has entered the blood. The application of strychnine to a nerve will never produce poison-