1 66  Deodorized  Opium  and  Tincture.  {AmA^;mlTm- 
principle  is  entirely  destitute  of  narcotic  properties.  When  taken 
into  the  system  it  performs  the  functions  of  a  powerful  tonic,  and  is 
the  very  principle  contained  in  opium  that  will  prevent  the  depres- 
sion which  follows  the  administration  of  the  morphine  alone.  All 
medical  authorities  agree  that  opium  increases  the  temperature 
from  the  start,  producing  a  pleasant,  warming  effect,  while  morphine 
lowers  the  temperature.  Opium  increases  the  pulse  and  morphine 
decreases  it.  Dr.  Squibb,  in  his  paper  on  "  Opium  as  a  Therapeu- 
tic Agent,"  before  referred  to,  says: 
"  Observers  have  found  that  there  are  certain  good  effects 
obtained  or  certain  unpleasant  consequences  avoided,  more  fre- 
quently by  the  use  of  the  natural  combination,  while  all  agree  that 
the  whole*  therapeutic  power  and  influence  of  opium  cannot  be 
obtained  by  any  salt  of  morphine."  Did  not  Dr.  Squibb  make  the 
addition  of  Hoffman's  anodyne  to  his  liquor  opii  co7?ipositus — aside 
from  its  power  of  preserving  the  preparation — for  the  stimulating 
and  antispasmodic  qualities  that  the  compound  spirit  of  ether  pos- 
sesses ?    We  believe  he  did  so. 
As  early  as  January,  182 1,  in  the  Journal  de  Physiologie  Experi- 
mentale,  Mr.  Robiquet,  commenting  on  his  new  process  for  making 
an  extract  of  opium,  says  that  the  nauseating  principles  of  opium 
exercise  no  beneficial  effects  on  the  general  economy,  but  that  it  is 
an  established  fact  that  the  good  effects  are  the  result  of  the 
action  of  properties  peculiar  to  the  two  principles  recently  discov- 
ered in  opium — narcotine  and  morphine.  He  further  says :  "  The 
results  of  Dr.  Magendie's  experiments  confirm  this  view,  as  narco- 
tine acts  as  a  stimulant  substance,  while  morphine  is  the  real  ano- 
dyne which  induces  calm  sleep." 
The  writer  of  the  present  paper  goes  further,  and  says  that  he 
firmly  believes  narcotine  to  be  a  most  valuable  remedial  agent  in 
the  treatment  of  the  habits  of  opium,  alcohol  and  tobacco  using ; 
and  while  he  is  not  in  a  position  to  claim  that  it  is  a  specific,  yet 
his  limited  observation  in  the  administration  of  this  remedy  has 
been  of  the  most  encouraging  character.  Results  of  the  most 
beneficial  character  have  been  obtained.  The  action  of  narcotine 
seems  to  do  away  with  the  craving  and  the  prostration  which 
usually  follow  deprivation  from  the  usual  dose  of  opium,  etc.,  used  by 
the  habitue.  We  have  seen  unusually  good  effects  from  the 
administration  to  these  unfortunates  of  narcotine  in  grain  doses 
