AmN™*mJm™m'}  Action  of  Apomorphine  and  Apocodeine.  541 
phurous  acid  per  thousand,  intense  inflammation  of  the  tracheal 
and  bronchial  mucous  membrane  was  produced,  also  inflammatory 
feci  in  the  tissue  of  the  lungs,  the  bloud  in  the  capillaries  becoming 
black  and  coagulated.  Injections  of  a  5  per  cent,  solution  of  sul- 
phurous acid  into  the  stomach  set  up  very  extensive  and  severe 
gastritis,  not  only  all  the  coats  of  the  stomach  itself  being  affected, 
but  also  the  superficial  portions  of  neighboring  organs,  as  the  liver 
and  the  diaphragm,  death  occurring  in  from  three  to  five  minutes. 
It  is  suggested  that  this  rapid  and  far-reaching  action  may  be  due  to 
the  disengagement  of  the  gas  by  the  heat  of  the  stomach,  so  that 
it  diffuses  itself  much  more  rapidly  than  a  liquid  could  do.  Dr. 
Pfeiffer  finds  that  in  some  wines  there  is  as  much  as  eight  parts  of 
sulphurous  acid,  probably  as  bisulphite  of  lime,  in  100,000,  and 
that  in  preserved  vegetables,  such  as  are  used  in  the  army  and  on 
board  ship,  there  is  often  a  very  appreciable  quantity  either  free  or 
combined  with  alkalies,  this  being  especially  the  case  with  preserved 
asparagus. — Lancet ;  Med.  and  Surg.  Rep.,  Oct.  10,  p.  579. 
ON  THE  ACTION  OF  APOMORPHINE  AND  APOCODEINE.1 
By  W.  Murrell. 
Apomorphine,  which  is  derived  from  morphine,  has  been  largely 
and  successfully  used  by  the  writer,  who  has  long  advocated  its 
employment  as  an  emetic,  and  during  the  last  few  years  has  admin- 
istered it  as  an  expectorant  with  successful  results.  Given  hypo- 
dermically,  TL-  of  a  grain  acts  promptly  as  an  emetic,  but  when 
administered  by  the  mouth  as  an  expectorant  much  larger  doses  are 
required  and  well  borne. 
Dr.  Gee,  who  first  drew  attention  to  the  properties  of  apomorphine 
in  1869,  regarded  ^  grain  given  by  the  mouth  as  a  certain  vomit- 
ing agent ;  but  Dr.  Murrell  finds  that  the  majority  of  his  patients 
can  take  a  grain  of  apomorphine  three  times  a  day  without  incon- 
venience, and  that  by  many  as  much  as  i-L  to  2  grains  three  times 
daily  is  borne  without  difficulty.  Most  of  the  patients  treated  by 
Dr.  Murrell  with  large  doses  of  apomorphine*  were  suffering  from 
bronchial  catarrh  or  chronic  bronchitis,  and  the  drug  exerted  a 
powerful  expectorant  action  without  producing  either  nausea  or 
emesis,  the  large  doses  being  much  more  effective  than  smaller 
ones. 
1  British  Medical  Journal;  Med.  Chronicle,  June,  1891. 
