XXI.—An Experimental Research on the Antagonism between the Actions of Physostigma and Atropia

Abstract

It is natural to suppose that soon after it became known that injurious effects follow the introduction of certain substances into the system, attempts were made to remedy these effects, and also to discover counteragents, or antidotes, to the hurtful substances. The success attending these attempts must, of necessity, have been closely related to the existing state of knowledge regarding the actions of active substances. When the effects of poisons were referred to supernatural manifestations, it was chiefly charms and superstitious rites that were trusted to as protectives and remedies. At a somewhat more advanced period in the progress of human knowledge, vague notions of physiological laws and processes supplied the indications of curative treatment.