ACTION OF SOME OPIUM ALKALOIDS ON THE 

 PSYCHOLOGICAL REACTION TIME 



DAVID I. MACHT AND SHACHNE ISAACS 



From the Pharmacological and Psychological Laboratories of the Johns Hopkins 



University 



While a large number of drugs either in therapeutic or in toxic 

 doses exert a profound effect on the brain, some as excitants or 

 delirifacients, others as sedatives, and still others in other ways, 

 it is surprising and remarkable how little experimental work, 

 with one or two exceptions, is found on the relation of psychology 

 to pharmacology. The two important exceptions to this state- 

 ment are alcohol ahd caffeine. Owing to the economic impor- 

 tance of coffee, tea and alcoholic beverages, the effects of alcohol 

 and caffeine have been the subjects of extensive investigations 

 both by older and by more recent authorities. A review of the 

 work on alcohol up to 1903 is found in Professor Abel's Mono- 

 graph on the Pharmacological Action of Alcohol (1). Of the 

 newer work we need only mention the recent elaborate and ex- 

 haustive studies on the psychological effects of alcohol by Bene- 

 dict and Dodge (2), and on the effects of caffeine by Hollings- 

 worth (3) . With the exception of these two drugs, only 'occa- 

 sional and sporadic contributions, such as that of Loewald (4) 

 on bromides, and that of Poffenberger (5) on strychnin are met 

 with in this field. Even in the case of the most important 

 group of narcotic drugs, namely the opium alkaloids, very little 

 definite and accurate experimental data as to their influence on 

 the psychic functions, are to be found in the literature. 



In connection with an extensive and intensive study of the 

 pharmacological effects of opium and its principal alkaloids, 

 which have for some years been carried on by one of the present 

 authors (M.), it was deemed very desirable to investigate more 

 carefully the effects of morphin and opium on the psychological 



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