Muscarin

An "alkaloid" from Agaricus muscarius, L.

Authority.

S. Ringer, M.D., Lancet, 1877 (2), p. 198, thirteen experiments on four men, seven, three, two, and one each respectively; 1/3 of a grain given hypodermically.

EYE

• Lachrymation occurred in eight cases, amounting in some instances only to suffusion of the eyes, but generally the tears trickled down the face, so that the patient was obliged to wipe the eyes. It began in six to ten minutes, and lasted generally about twenty to thirty minutes. In each case the pupils became contracted, often considerably; the contraction beginning in about fifteen-minutes. The vision seemed unaffected.

MOUTH

• Salivation was not so constant as perspiration; moreover, the saliva varied in quantity more than the perspiration. Salivation occurred in eleven experiments, and was absent in four. In three it was slight, in the rest free or profuse. It began in from two to fifteen minutes, and lasted from twenty to eighty minutes.

STOMACH

• In three experiments on one man with the larger doses, the drug induced vomiting once and once nausea.

STOOL

• In the cases in which it purged, the injection took effect in from ten to twenty minutes. In two experiments the drug excited an inclination to pass a motion. In four experiments on the same man it produced a loose motion, one of a green color, though his bowels were opened naturally a short time previously.

URINARY ORGANS

• In five experiments the patients were obliged to pass urine in from nine to fifteen minutes, and two complained of supra-pubic pain.

RESPIRATORY ORGANS

• In five it produced a frequent hacking cough.

PULSE

• In one of our four men the pulse was always very quick, in the other three it was natural. The effect on the normal frequency was nil, though in one man it reduced the frequency ten to sixteen beats.

FEVER

• Sweating occurred in eleven of the thirteen experiments. 1/2 a grain made it free, whilst larger doses, as 3/4 of a grain and a grain, rendered it very abundant; indeed, it was sometimes as free as the perspiration excited by a 1/3 to a 1/2 grain of Pilocarpin. The perspiration stood in large drops on the face after the larger doses, the nightdress became soaked, and the skin felt sodden. Perspiration began in from three to fifteen minutes, occurring earliest after the larger doses. It lasted from half an hour to an hour and a half. On testing the reaction of the sweat in six experiments, we found it neutral in four and alkaline in two.