Anaesthetics used in experiments on animals / issued by The Research Defence Society.

  • Research Defence Society (Great Britain)
Date:
[1908?]
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: Anaesthetics used in experiments on animals / issued by The Research Defence Society. 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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    doses. Chloroform, except in the largest doses, does not paralyse the sensory cells in the spinal cord. . . We believe that small doses of curare would paralyse the motor nerve endings before the brain cells were paralysed, but that large doses of curare will paralyse the whole of the brain like chloroform.” With regard to the general characters of curare, we have the evidence of Prof. Starling and Prof. Cushny. Prof. Starling is asked : “ AYhat is curare, is it a herb ? ” He answers : “ It is an arrow poison, the South American arrow poison. It is used for poisoning arrows by the Indians, and is brought by them into commerce in gourds. It is now becoming extremely difficult to get curare, and it is getting more and more impure, more and more poisonous in its effects, so that it is being used as little as possible.” Prof. Cushny says the same. He is asked whether curare is much used by experi- menters in this country, and he answers : “I do not think it is much used anywhere; to tell the truth, it is very difficult to get, and the reason why I refuse to give any definite statement as to curare is that it is so indefinite. We have not the same curare that we could have got thirty or forty years ago. As a matter of fact, at the present time, much of the curare that we get fails to paralyse muscles or anything. I tried to get it in a number of places a few years ago, and I could not get any curare that would paralyse the muscles at all. What is called curare is very often quite inactive.” As to the infrequency of the use of curare, we have the evidence of several witnesses before the Royal Commission. Sir James Russell, Assistant Inspector in Scotland, says : “I have not seen it used for years. I did see it once used in a blood-pressure experiment about fifteen years ago. In that case the anaesthetic