ON  THE  EMPLOYMENT  OF  NARCEINE. 
249 
obtain  silver  of  a  rare  purity.  When  it  was  wanted  to  form  the 
precipitated  silver  into  bars,  I  fused  it  with  5  per  cent,  of  its 
weight  of  calcined  borax  containing  10  per  cent,  of  nitrate  of 
sodium,  as  I  mentioned  in  the  case  of  the  silver  reduced  from 
the  chloride  by  potassa  and  sugar  of  milk.  I  have  also  fused 
large  quantities  with  the  aerhydrogen  blowpipe  in  a  crucible  of 
pure  procelain,  or  in  an  oxyhydrogen  gas  furnace  in  crucibles  of 
marble  lime. — From  Memoirs  of  the  Royal  Belgian  Academy  in 
London  Chem.  News,  Feb.  1,  1867. 
ON  THE  EMPLOYMENT  OF  NARCEINE. 
By  Dr.  Eulenberg. 
The  following  is  translated  in  abstract  from  the  "  Kepertoire 
de  Pharmacie." 
The  doses  of  Narceine  commonly  employed  by  Dr.  Eulenburg 
for  internal  use  were  from  -Jth  to  \  a  grain ;  and  for  hypoder- 
mic use  fron  Jth  to  Jth  of  a  grain.  With  healthy  persons  these 
doses  are  generally  followed  by  a  slight  narcotic  effect,  without 
any  accompanying  disagreeable  subjective  symptom,  such  as 
headache  or  gastric  derangement.  When  used  hypodermic-ally 
it  produced  a  sensation  of  burning  at  the  place  of  puncture, 
but  of  little  intensity  and  duration,  a  sensation  in  every  case 
less  evident  than  that  caused  by  every  other  alkaloid  (morphia ; 
quinia,  etc.)  It  never  had  any  irritant  effect;  but  in  patients 
with  sensitive  skins,  when  the  injection  was  made  on  the  face,  it 
produced  an  oedematous  swelling  without  redness  at  the  place  of 
puncture,  which  disappeared  in  from  one  to  two  days,  leaving  a 
somewhat  sensitive  and  limited  induration.  Such  an  effect  has 
nothing  in  it  of  a  peculiar  nature,  as  it  has  been  noticed  after 
the  injection  of  other  alkaloids,  as  morphia,  for  example.- 
Among  the  physiological  effects  of  narceine  which  accompany 
the  narcotism  is  its  action  on  the  circulation  ;  this  consists  prin- 
cipally (contrary  to  the  action  of  atropia)  in  a  diminution  of  the 
pulse,  succeeded  some  time  after  by  an  acceleration.  In  rare 
cases,  the  pulse  is  accelerated  during  its  employment  by  twelve 
to  sixteen  strokes  in  a  minute.    Its  action  on  the  cutaneous 
