THEIR NATURE AND EFFECTS.
12.48½ P.M. Injection.
12.58 P.M. Reflex movement ceased.
1.40 P.M. Muscles of left or poisoned leg contracted with 2.43 volts.
1.40½ P.M. Muscle of right or non-poisoned leg with 1.89 volts.
1.44½ P.M. Nerve on poisoned side caused contraction in muscle when excited by 10.8 volts.
1.46 PM. Non-poisoned nerve with 0.54 volts.
In this experiment the sensitiveness both of the non-poisoned muscle and nerve, in comparison with that of the poisoned side, was greater than even in the former experiment.
These experiments seem to make it probable that cobra-poison has some special property in deadening the terminations of the motor nerves; and Sir Joseph Fayrer and Dr. Brunton have, in support of this view, given some experiments in which, on irritating the spinal cord with an induced current, contraction was caused in the non-poisoned leg, but not in the poisoned.
The following experiment had for its object to ascertain if the mechanical excitement of the cord could be transmitted through the poisoned nerve.
Experiment X.
A frog {Rana tigrina) had 0.5 cubic centimetre of fresh cobra-poison injected into its dorsal sac at 2.12 P.M., the right thigh, with the exception of the sciatic nerve, having been previously ligatured.
