The aqueous extract prepared from the seeds of Cnidium monnieri possesses a blocking anesthetic action on isolated sciatic nerves in toads.

The article compared the anesthetic action of mixture of 1% lidocaine and 0.25% bupivacaine solution with 0.25% simple bupivacaine solution.

Though both anesthetic agents were developed around the same time (the 1840s), chloroform soon emerged as the more widely used, as it took action faster and was non-flammable.