I possess comparatively few data concerning the action of drugs upon “Emotivity” or, to put it more specifically, upon the electrical resistance of the palm of the hand. Except as regards atropine, with which I have made many observations to test the sudo-motor theory of the reaction, I find in my notes only one satisfactory observation upon each of the following drugs: alcohol, chloroform, morphia, which I will transcribe. Obviously, a single observation of any drug can give only a single facet of its action under the particular conditions of experiment. It will, however, be clear that the results have, in each instance, been such as might be anticipated on general principles with one notable exception, viz., atropine.
Experiment
1:
Alcohol
. —A healthy subject, F. G., aged 30, with an initial hand conductance = 17
γ
( = 60, 000 ohms) gave emotive reactions = 37
γ
to the threat of a burn (match struck) and 2
γ
to an actual slight burn, immediately before and immediately after the ingestion of 50 c. c. of whisky. The conductance remained unaltered at 17
γ
.