Am.  Jour.  Pharm. ) 
July,  1885.  J 
Note  on  Dover^s  Solution. 
329 
NOTE  ON  DOVER'S  SOLUTION. 
By  a.  B.  Lyons,  M.D. 
The  publication  in  your  jonrnal  of  a  paper  like  that  of  E.  H.  Hess 
in  your  May  issue,  insures  for  the  o])inions  therein  stated  a  wide  cir- 
culation, besides  giving  them  a  quasi  endorsement.  I  therefore  desire 
to  criticise  through  your  columns  the  concluding  paragraph  of  the 
paper  in  question. 
The  writer  states  that  he  has  made  some  physiological  experiments 
upon  a  cat  with  the  familiar  combination  of  morphine  and  ipecac 
which,  in  a  new  form,  is  the  subject  of  his  thesis,  finding  that  in  over- 
doses it  ^'  produced  emesis  with  general  exhaustion,  but  no  alarming 
symptoms.^'  From  these  experiments  he  concludes  that  the  Dover's 
solution  is  almost  a  harmless  preparation,  as  an  overdose  is  almost 
certain  to  produce  emesis.^'  I  need  not  point  out  the  importance,  in 
drawing  conclusions  from  physiological  experiments,  of  keeping  well 
in  mind  the  fact  that  different  animals  are  affected  in  very  different  ways, 
and  in  very  different  degrees  by  toxic  agents.  A  mixture  containing 
in  each  fluidounce  six  grains  of  morphine  acetate  and  the  equivalent 
of  four  grains  of  ipecac  might  be  an  emetic  for  a  cat,  but  I  should  be 
very  greatly  surprised  to  find  it  capable  of  i)roducing  any  such  effect 
in  a  human  subject.  It  must  be  remembered  that  the  effect  of  mor- 
phine is  to  counteract  powerfully  the  action  of  ordinary  emetics,  and 
ipecac  alone  in  a  dose  of  as  much  as  four  grains  would  not  generally 
do  more  than  to  produce  slight  nausea. 
We  have  already  too  many  preparations  of  opium  of  varying 
strength.  That  now  proposed  agrees  very  well  in  mor})hine  strength 
with  the  fluid  Dover's  powder  (tincture  of  ipecacuanha  and  opium)  of 
the  U.  S.  Pharmacopoeia  and  with  the  other  officinal  tinctures  of 
opium,  but  the  relative  proportion  of  ipecac  is  very  much  smaller  than 
in  any  of  the  numerous  formulas  in  general  or  local  use. 
If  we  must  have  a  second  form  of  fluid  Dover's  ])owder,  let  us  at 
least  have  the  composition  and  the  dose  the  same  as  that  of  prepara- 
tions already  recognized  by  our  standard  authority. 
Detroit,  Mich.,  May  27,  1885. 
For  Fixed  Dressing  for  Joints,  requiring  rest,  Dr.  Levis  uses  the  fol- 
lowing, which  is  painted  over  roller  bandages  or  cloth,  applied  to  the  part : 
Glue,  lb.  i.  ;  oxide  of  zinc,  lb.  ss.  ;  water,  Cong.  hh.—  CoIL  and  Clin.  Record. 
