This paper was an important milestone in the development of ideas about muscle and neuronal nico-tinic receptors. It is about the pharmacological actions of the series of compounds that consist of two quaternary ammonium groups joined by a polymethylene chain of variable length. Quaternary ammonium compounds were probably the first synthetic compounds to be investigated with a view to revealing a relationship between structure and activity (Crum Brown & Fraser, 1868, 1869), and they have featured in many studies since then. Although the paper by Paton & Zaimis (1949) is ostensibly a purely pharmacological investigation, it has actually contributed as much to physiology as to pharmacology. The paper describes in some detail the actions of compounds with 2 to 13 (and 18) meth-ylene groups between the quaternary nitrogens. A whole range of actions is investigated: neuromuscu-lar block and its (considerable) species-dependence, antagonism of neuromuscular block, direct actions on skeletal muscle (frog isolated rectus abdominis), ganglion blocking activity, anticholinesterase activity, oral activity, and surface activity effects. The main emphasis, though, was on neuromuscular block by the 10-methylene compound, C10, or decamethonium; the ganglion block effects were investigated in more detail by Paton & Zaimis (1951).
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