On the direct action of strychnine upon the spinal cord / by George Harley, M.D.

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

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: On the direct action of strychnine upon the spinal cord / by George Harley, M.D. 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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    occurs just as surely in the latter example as when either the oxygen alone, as in the second instance, or both the oxygen and the oxidizable materials, as in the first case, are wanting. Strychnine, I believe, from the results of the cited experi- ments, acts in the third of the three ways—that is to say, it has no immediate effect upon the nervous system, but acts in- directly through the power it possesses over the functions of the organic constituents of the blood. Many other poisons, I doubt not, exert their influence in a similar manner; for I have found, that hydrocyanic acid, chloroform, nicotine, alcohol, ether, morphine, and several other narcotics, have the same power of destroying the property possessed by the organic constituents of the blood of absorbing oxygen and exhaling carbonic acid. A more particular study of the effects of different substances on the blood may yet not only furnish a clue to the actions of poisons in particular, but afford a direct explanation of the physiological action of remedies in general; and the more speedily our knowledge in that direction advances, the more rapidly will medicine be raised to its proper position amongst the inductive sciences.