168  Tlierapeutical  Value  of  Apomorphia.  {A^fni,  mT; 
A  fourth,  and  certainly  not  unimportant,  property  of  our  drug  is, 
to  produce  its  specific  action  comparatively  soon  after  introduction, 
and  after  very  short  preliminary  symptoms,  and  sometimes  even  with- 
out any.  For  the  better  illustration  of  this  point  we  may  be  permit- 
ted  to  quote  here  the  results  which  Ackermann  obtained  in  his  inves- 
tigations into  the  physiological  effects  of  the  most  powerful  emetics 
with  reference  to  the  commencement  of  emesis.  Ackermann  says, 
with  reference  to  the  three  most  powerful  emetics,  antimony,  ipecac- 
uanha, and  sulphate  of  copper,  "  by  the  repeated  administration  (from 
5  to  8  in  the  evening)  every  15  minutes  till  the  occurrence  of  vomit- 
ing, of  half  grain  of  tartar  'emetic,  emesis  began  after  about  1 J  hours. 
By  similar  repeated  doses  of  10  grains  of  ipecacuanha,  emesis  set  in 
after  about  f  hour,  and  after  5  grains  sulphate  of  copper,  given  every 
15  minutes,  in  about  one  hour."  Let  us  compare  with  these  results 
the  time  of  the  first  occurrence  of  emesis  after  the  administration  of 
apomorphia  ;  and  it  appears  from  our  experiments  on  man  that  the 
shortest  interval  between  its  introduction  and  its  action  was  4  minutes, 
the  longest  16  minutes.  The  difference  in  this  respect,  in  comparison 
with  the  other  emetics,  requires  no  comment.  We  may  here  record 
an  observation  which  we  made  both  on  the  English  preparation  and 
on  Merck's,  viz  :  that  while  apomorphia,  preserved  in  the  form  of 
powder,  seems  not  to  lose  its  activity  in  the  least,  as  is  evident  from 
the  circumstance  that  after  more  than  a  year  our  English  preparation 
showed  striking  results,  still,  once  dissolved,  it  seems  very  soon  to  de- 
compose and  lose  its  strength.  We  were  able  to  demonstrate  in  the 
solution  a  daily  diminution  of  activity,  though  it  still,  in  comparison 
with  other  emetics,  continued  prompt.  Further  observations  will  test 
the  accuracy  of  our  remark. 
We  must  lastly  point  out  a  fifth  agreeable  property  of  this  sub- 
stance, that,  as  may  be  partly  explained  by  the  rapidity  with  which  it 
acts,  comparatively  very  trivial  and  transient  collateral  effects  occur, 
especially  never  unpleasant  after  effects  such  as  accompany  tartar 
emetic.  In  many  cases  vomiting  took  place  quite  rapidly  without  any 
previous  symptoms,  and  after  one  or  more  acts  of  emesis  the  patient 
felt  perfectly  well.  At  most,  a  few  general  symptoms  for  a  short 
time  preceded  and  succeeded  the  act  of  vomiting,  and  the  duration  of 
these  symptoms  was  always  much  shorter  than  attends  any  hitherto 
known  emetics.  Generally,  several  minutes  passed  after  the  intro- 
duction of  the  apomorphia,  during  which  there  was  no  objective  or 
