78  On  the  Properties  of  Opium,  etc.  {A*r£t3&?L 
made  by  Dr.  Rabuteau  on  each  constituent  of  opium,  we  can  only  give 
his  results,  which  are  chiefly  as  follows  :—Papaverina  is  much  less, 
active  than  thebaina,  and  produces  hardly  any  effect  when  adminis- 
tered in  moderate  doses  to  the  lower  animals,  but  in  large  doses  it 
produces  convulsions  in  frogs.  In  the  case  of  the  human  subject  it- 
possesses  but  little  activity  in  rather  large  doses,  as,  for  instance,, 
twenty  centigrammes  (T20°0  of  a  gramme,  about  fifteen  grains  being  about 
equivalent  to  a  gramme) ;  but  in  larger  doses  it  is  poisonous,  and 
causes  convulsions;  it  does  not  arrest  diarrhoea,  or,  in  other  words,, 
it  is  not  anexosmotic  ;  it  is  not  soporific,  but  it  assists  the  anaesthetic; 
action  of  chloroform.  Narcotina. — With  regard  to  this  principle,  Dr.. 
Rabuteau  confirms  the  results  of  previous  observers  as  to  its  nega- 
tive characters.  Codeia  is  more  poisonous  to  man  than  thebaina^ 
but,  on  the  other  band,  according  to  the  experiments  of  Claude  Ber- 
nard and  Dr.  Rabuteau,  thebaina  is  the  more  poisonous  to  the  lower 
animals.  Codeia  is  dangerous  to  man  in  large  doses,  it  is  very  slightly 
soporific,  very  slightly  anodyne,  and  is  not  anexosmotic,  and,  there- 
fore,  is  useless  in  the  practice  of  medicine.  Narceina,  according  to 
Claude  Bernard,  is  the  most  soporific  of  the  bases  of  opium,  and  is 
less  poisonous  than  thebaina,  codeia  and  papaverina ;  but  Dr.  Rabu- 
teau, from  his  more  recent  researches,  thinks  that  although  narceina 
is  more  soporific  in  dogs  than  morphia,  yet  that  in  the  human  subject 
morphia  is  superior  in  this  respect.  Narceina  augments  the  action  of 
chloroform,  and  it  is  anodyne  and  anexosmotic.  Morphia  is  the  most- 
poisonous  and  the  most  soporific  of  ' the  principles  of  opium  in  manf. 
but  it  is  also  the  most  anexosmotic,  as  has  been  proved  by  experi- 
ments similar  to  those  related  in  connection  with  the  properties  of 
thebaina.  It  is  also  anodyne,  as  is  well  known,  but  it  presents  this- 
inconvenience,  that  it  deranges  the  system  by  causing  loss  of  appe- 
tite, nausea  and  vomiting.  The  other  principles  of  opium  are  of  se» 
little  importance  in  medical  practice  that  it  is  unnecessary  to  refer  to* 
them  in  detail. 
Dr.  Rabuteau  concludes  his  paper  with  some  observations  on  the- 
simultaneous  action  of  chloroform  and  the  alkaloids  of  opium.  It  has- 
been  found  that  the  lower  animals  were  much  less  sensible  to  paii*. 
when  they  were  subjected  to  the  influence  of  chloroform  and  also  the 
opiate  preparations  ;  thus,  in  cases  where  both  agents  wrere  adminis- 
tered, the  insensibility  to  pain  remained,  even  when  the  chloroform 
was  no  longer  administered,  and  yet  the  animals  did  not  sleep.  The 
