In 1937, having had occasion to observe psychotic patients being treated with insulin and metrazol, we were impressed by the signs of shock and damage to the central nervous system incident to such treatment. The great majority of the patients showed signs of involvement of the pyramidal tracts during the insulin coma or the metrazol seizure, and these signs occasionally remained even after consciousness had completely returned. In addition, various other persistent, and apparently permanent, abnormal neurologic signs were observed, such as absence of the knee jerk, ptosis, strabismus and loss of pupillary accommodation to near objects.
As a result of these observations we undertook to determine what damage to the central nervous system might be produced by similarly administering insulin and metrazol to monkeys.
METHODS AND MATERIAL
The studies were limited to adult Macacus rhesus monkeys, of which three groups were used.
Group 1.
—Normal Control Animals: Complete serial