570 ANNUAL RECORD OF SCIENCE AND INDUSTRY. 



not cure. One advantage of the bromide of potassium is said 

 to be that it can be given without any danger whatever. 

 Certain inconveniences sometimes present themselves, such 

 as the production of acne, or other eruptions on the face or 

 elsewhere, although, on the other hand, such diseases have 

 sometimes been cured by it. In full doses it is said some- 

 times to cause redness of the palate, epigastric heat, saliva- 

 tion, drowsiness, confusion of mind, depression, failure of mem- 

 ory in a remarkable degree, weakness of the arms and legs; 

 but all these evils disappear entirely on the discontinuance 

 of the remedy, no permanent ill effects having been observed 

 to follow its employment. 14^1, January 7, 567. 



POISONOUS QUALITIES OF BROMIDE OF POTASSIUM. 



Bromide of potassium has of late years been a great fa- 

 vorite with the medical profession on account of the many 

 virtues it is said to possess in cases of nervous diseases and 

 cerebral affection. We are, however, in a recent medical 

 thesis, solemnly warned of various ills that have attended its 

 use, such as a decrease of strength, muscular weakness, trem- 

 bling of the hands, emaciation, loss of appetite, and many 

 other evils. These, however, are said, on the other hand, to 

 depend probably on the excessive use of this substance, or 

 on its application in cases where the general symptoms 

 would properly forbid its employment. Mayei\ Toxicologie 

 des J3roms. 



HYDROBROMATE OF CODEIA, ETC. 



Few substances of the vegetable kingdom furnish so exten- 

 sive a field for investigation as opium, and we seem even yet 

 to be far from having determined all its simple constituents, 

 to say nothing of the combinations which these are capable 

 of forming with one class of bodies or another. In the course 

 of an elaborate inquiry by Dr. Wright upon the action of hy- 

 drochloric and hydrobromic acids upon codeia and morphine, 

 two of these opium bodies, it was ascertained that the salts 

 thus formed produced a very peculiar physiological action 

 upon animals, whether administered by subcutaneous injec- 

 tion or by the mouth, this application to adult cats develop- 

 ing in a very few minutes a condition of great excitement, 

 almost amounting to delirium, and accompanied by a copious 



