An essay on the action and curative properties of strychnia : to which the Annual Medal of the Harveian Medical Society was awarded in 1832 . / by James Marr.

  • Marr, James.
Date:
[1832?]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: An essay on the action and curative properties of strychnia : to which the Annual Medal of the Harveian Medical Society was awarded in 1832 . / by James Marr. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The University of Glasgow Library. The original may be consulted at The University of Glasgow Library.

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    said, when a grain is dissolved in 80 lbs. of water. {Ann. de Cliim. et de Physiq. vol. x. p. 153.) It is very sparingly so- luble in water, but easily soluble in alcohol and in the vola- tile oils. Its alcoholic solution has an alkaline reaction. It forms neutral salts with acids. Pure strychnia is not turned red by the reaction of nitric acid. {Pelletier, Caventou, A?m. de Chim. et de Physiq. xxxi. p. 56.) According to the analy- sis of Pelletier and Caventou, strychnia is composed of 78-22 of carbon, 638 of oxygen, 6-54 of hydrogen, and 8-92 of nitro- gen. SECTION IV. PHYSIOLOGICAL ACTION. Strychnia appears to possess the active properties of the nux vomica in a very concentrated state ; with the exception of hydrocyanic acid, there is no poison endowed with such destructive energy. Dr Christison has killed a dog in two minutes, by injecting one-sixth of a grain into the chest, in the form of alcoholic solution ; and he has seen a wild boar killed in the same manner with the third of a grain in ten minutes. The symptoms produced are very striking and uni- form. The animal trembles, and is then seized with a stiff- ness and starting of the limbs. These symptoms increase, till at length it is seized with a fit of violent general spasm, in which the head is bent back, the spine stiffened, the limbs ex- tended and rigid, and the respiration checked by fixing the chest. The fit is then succeeded by an interval of calm, during which, the senses are quite entire. But another paroxysm soon sets in, and then another and another, till at length a fit takes place more violent than any before, and the animal perishes suffocated, (C/^m^^.«7^ Op. cit. p. 637.) The accuracy of this description I had an opportunity of verifying on many animals which were destroyed by this Substance. The first