Abstract
For rabbits, 1.2 grams of magnesium sulphate per kilo body-weight are invariably fatal in intramuscular injection; they usually die in less than twenty minutes. The rabbit to the right (A) received such a dose and has been dead for some time. The rabbit in the middle (B) received a similar dose of magnesium and is still alive; it breathes regularly. This animal received also an intravenous injection of barium chloride, which is the cause of its surviving the fatal dose of magnesium.
By a special study we are enabled to state the mode of the antagonistic action of the barium which is this: the fatal action of magnesium is due to a paralysis of respiration and barium counteracts just this effect of magnesium. It differs from the antagonistic action of calcium inasmuch as calcium antagonizes all the effects of magnesium, while barium picks out only the respiration, the animal remaining anesthetized and paralyzed.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.