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NUX VOMICA. 481 ;

symptoms as anoxemic convulsion, reflex excitement movements,
etc., which were much more pronounced when pure nitrous
oxide was administered ; also that the duration of the anaesthesia
was found to be longest after the administration of mixtures con-
taining from 3 to II per cent, of oxygen, the maximum duration
having been attained with 7 per cent, mixtures ; and that with
nitrous oxide and air mixtures the resulting anaesthesia was dis-
tinctly longer than with pure nitrous oxide, but the results were
very uncertain in these cases. The shortest anaesthesia was re-
corded with nitrous oxide alone and with nitrous oxide mixtures
containing 30 per cent, of air. His best results were obtained
with mixtures of nitrous oxide and oxygen, the next best with
nitrous oxide and air, and the worst with nitrous oxide free from
air or oxygen. He also found that there was no one mixture of
nitrous oxide with air or with oxygen which would successfully
anaesthetize every patient ; also that mixtures containing 5, 6, or
7
per cent, of oxygen were the best for adult males, and mixtures con-
taining 7, 8, or 9 per cent, the best for females and children
that the next best results to those last mentioned were to be ob-
tained by mixtures of nitrous oxide and air, from 14 to 18 per
cent, of the latter being advisable for anaesthetizing men, and from
18 to 22 per cent, for anaesthetizing women and children.
At a recent meeting of the Paris Academy of Medicine, a
method was suggested to obviate the disagreeable incipient effects
of nitrous oxide gas, which are often manifested by bad dreams
and the perception of noises aroused in the mind of the patient
when still in a state of partial consciousness, by soothing strains
of sweet music by a powerful phonograph, the tubes of which
are applied to the patient's ears before the gas is administered and
during the operation of extracting teeth.

NUX VOMICA.
Source.—The seed of the Strychnos nux vomica^ which contains
two alkaloids, strychnine and brucine^ the amount of strychnine
being one-fourth to one-half per cent., and of brucine from one-
eighth to one per cent.
Strychnine.— Strychnina (C21H22N2O2)—is a white or grayish
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