A™cfoberr,Pi902!m'}    American  Pharmaceutical  Association.  509 
inactive,  while  0-02-0  04  gramme  in  frogs  induced  a  comatose  con- 
dition, which  was  followed  by  convulsions. 
Eulenburg  ("  Hypoderm.  Injection  d.  Arzneimittel,"  1875)  noted 
an  acceleration  in  pulse  rate  (man)  and  in  respiratory  frequency, 
with  a  rise  in  temperature.  He  believed  that  there  was  very  slight, 
if  any,  narcotic  action. 
Barbier's  Reports  ("  Traite  de  mat.  med.")  differ  very  much  from 
those  from  the  use  of  pure  narcotine. 
We  undertook  this  study  in  the  hope  of  obtaining  data  to  form 
conclusions  as  to  the  advisability  of  denarcotizing  opium — a  ques- 
tion now  under  discussion  by  the  Committee  on  Revision  of  the 
United  States  Pharmacopoeia.  Warm-blooded  animals  were  espe- 
cially used  because  of  their  closer  relationship  to  man,  and  in  all 
experiments  involving  pain,  the  animals  were  anesthetized  with 
acetone-chloroform,  urethane  or  ether. 
We  used,  at  first,  narcotine  isolated  by  the  method  described  in 
Schmidt's  "  Pharmaceutische  Chemie,"  3d  Ed.,  Vol.  2,  p.  1894,  but 
most  of  the  work  was  done  with  narcotine  pure,  of  Merck ;  this 
they  declare  to  be  "  perfectly  pure."  Neither  gave  the  morphine 
reaction  with  selenious  acid  dissolved  in  concentrated  sulphuric 
acid,  and  the  narcotine  of  Merck,  which  alone  was  tested,  gave  no 
blue  violet  color,  showing  the  absence  ol  papaverin  (Huseman- 
Liebig  "  Annalen,"  Vol.  128,  p.  308).  Melting-point  1760  C. 
(Vanderkleed). 
GENERAL  ACTION. 
The  administration  ot  from  16  to  64  milligrammes  by  mouth  to 
one  of  us  (weight,  133  pounds)  caused  no  appreciable  disturbance, 
no  drowsiness  or  change  in  temperature  (before  experiment,  98-5° 
F.,  after  experiment,  98-4°  F.)  and  did  not  produce  constipation  or 
any  disturbance  in  pulse  rate. 
Daily  doses  of  from  01 2  to  0-8  gramme  have  been  used  for 
migraine  associated  with  malaria,  and  the  only  untoward  symptom 
has  been  some  weakening  of  the  pulse.  ("  Semaine  med.,"  1896, 
No.  14,  quoted  by  Kunkel,  "  Handb.  d.  Toxikol.,"  Vol.  2,  p.  820.) 
The  usual  dose  for  intermittent  fever  cases  is  given  as  from  \y2 
to  3  grains.  (Roberts,  "Lancet,"  Vol.  2,  1895,  P-  306.)  See  also 
"  Brit,  and  Foreign  Med.  Rev.,"  Vol.  8,  1839,  p.  263). 
In  small  dogs  (16-24  pounds)  the  subcutaneous  injection  of  16 
