Observations on box (buxus sempervirens), with especial reference to the true nature of tetanus / by Sydney Ringer and William Murrell.

  • Ringer, Sydney, 1835-1910.
Date:
1876
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Observations on box (buxus sempervirens), with especial reference to the true nature of tetanus / 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.

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    two sciatic nerves were exposed and an investigation was made of their power of conducting electrical stimuli as measured by the contractions of the muscles of the limb. The excitability exhibited by the nerve of the left leg was clearly greater than that of the right. The observation was made several times with varying strengths of current, and the result was in every case the same. At the post- mortem examination it was found that neither iliac artery had been tied ! This experiment demonstrates the fact that occasionally a difference normally exists in the relative activity of the two sciatic neiwes. It may, we think, be fairly concluded that our exceptional case belongs to this category, and that the difference in the condition of the two nerves would have been equally apparent had we resorted to no operative procedure and had left the arteries intact. Does box in any degree affect the muscles ? In the experiments just detailed we tested the muscles of the opposite legs, the muscles of one extremity being protected from the action of the poisoned blood by ligature of its artery. The apparatus used to stimulate the muscles was that employed in the investigation of the motor nerves. The electrodes, however, were placed in actual contact with the muscular tissue. The general mode of procedure was in both investigations identical. In no instance were we able to discriminate the slightest difference either in the strength or the rapidity of contraction of the corre- sponding muscles of the two limbs. We conclude there- fore that box exerts no direct influence on the muscular tissue. We next proceeded to ascertain whether box poisons the afferent nerves, for if this drug had induced depres- sion of these nerves, before the cord became tetanised, this condition would throw light on the paralysis pre- ceding tetanus, for the depressed afferent nerves would convey to the cord a weaker impression, and the reflex acts would consequently be weaker. We find that the afferent nerves are not paralysed by box, and we base this conclu-