The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1894-03-05
MORPHINE ANTIDOI1E.
DR.. MoOR'S STARTLING PROOF THAT
HE HAS CONQUERED THE POISON.
Permanganate of Potash Demonstrates Its
Mastery Over Morphine of an Equal
ACCOMMODATIONS, No Matter How Ad.
ministered, Reach the Stomach.


ministered, Reach the stomach.
DR.. William Moor. the discoyerer of the
new antidote for morphine, is experiment
ing with strychniuc, cocaine aud other
pOiSons.
DR.. Moor has demonstrated by stalking
his life upon it that the permanganate
will instantly counteract all the poisonous
effects of morphine When he took threa
grains Of the poison, against the protests
of l2 physicians. lie demonstrated not only
the success of his antidote. which be took
Immediately afterward, but proved that it
was u new discovery to the medical profess
sion.
DR.. Moor Is % years old. He is tall,
with a black mustache and n restless, en-
ergetic manner. He has all the enthusiasm
of an inventor. Poisons are his playthings
and experiment his amusement. He is an
Austrian by birth, studied two years in
Berlin and one in Paris and is graduate
of the College of Physicians and Surgeons
in this city. He has been in practice a lit
tie over three years.
DR.. Moor was asked how his attention
came to be called to permanganate of pot
ash He said it had always been IA favor.
ite with him when as boy he performed
chemical experiments. "It is very pretty
to look at" said he. Then he took pill
made of the permanganate and put 1t in q
glass of water. When he touched it with
spoon, it turned the whole glass to Il rich
purple color, like that Of a fine Burgundy.
This showed that the drug, which usually
comes in dark purple, needlelike crystals,
is easily soluble
81 will show you how it Affects NOR
phine, said Dr. Moor. Then he took Il
little bottle Of sulphate of morphine He
poured out grain Of morphine. This he
dissolved in a half glass Of water. 1t was
colurless. The reporter, who tasted It,
found it intensely bitter. "Now watch
the effect, - said Dr. Moor. He poured the
colorless morphine solution into the glass
containing the beautiful purple liquid.
The liquid Immediately turned dirty
black, like ink and the color ut once be-
gan to precipitate in fine particles toward
the bottom Of the glass.
"Now taste it, said DR.. Moor.
It was tasteless. The bitterness had all
disappeared, showing that the morphine
had been instantly annhilated by contact
with the permanganate OF potash. The
liquid at the top began to get clearer. The
fine black particles in five minutes formed
thick layer, and all the rest looked like
pure water. This residuum is black man
ganese dioxide, harmless substance.
THAT is the way it acts in the human
stomach, said DR.. Moor. THE morphine
or any Of the salts Of opium is at once rem
dered harmless by contact with the per-
mangaGate. The utidOte at once seeks
thepoison, passing by the other substances.
The soluble salt Of morphine is acted upon
by the antidOte 20, coo times quicker than
Glbumen and several thousand times quick
er than pepton."
''How did you find this oUt?'
Il experimental upon the white Of egg,
said Dr. Moor. THAT is pure albumen.
1t is converted into pepton by the action
OF pepsin. Peptou is the chief rival Of the
permangsnate, because pcpton is soluble
in water and permauganate Of potash acts
most quickly on soluble substances. You
have seen the demonstration which have
just given.
THE effect of the permangGnate on NOR
lLLllt - lhSNtAnAA AAllNAASs tAs NhA NE's A@AN
Tor purposes Of calculation | estimate it as
occupying second. Then | watch the ef-
feet of peunanganate Of potash on white
If egg and calculate the time until the ef-
feet is produced. 1t is infinitely CLOVER
$4,000 times slower. Thus knew that the
permangaRate would seek the morphine
and not the pepton in the stomach"
But that is only theoretical. Did you
have no practical test before you took the
.hree grains of morphine YOURSELF he was
asked.
"Oh, yes, " said DR.. Moor II tried it
on a couple of rabbits by hypodermic in
jections, administering the same quantity
of morphine to each. In the one which
gave the antidote the temperature remain
ed normal. In the other it fell to l6. Then
/ began trying it on myself, taking first an
eighth of a grain, then a quarter, then a
half, then three-quarters. When took the
antidote, there was no apparent effect.
never took as much as three grains at one
time until gave my demonstration before
the west side German clinic. DR.. GottheiI
was very much frightened. told him
would Just as lief take six grains. Almost
any quantity of morphine would be harm.
less il a similar quantity Of the antidote
were taken.
Professor Hit7ig in Germany year ol
two ago proved that poisons of all kinds
no matter how administered, hud theil
way to the stomach Thus a snake poison
received in the leg or hypodermic injec
ton of morphine in the arms begins to gel
into the stomach within few seconds
Professor Hitzig found that oDe-haf thC
poison will get into the stomach within
an hour The same is true of poisons re
ceived through the stomach, which pass
back to the stomach again. So it follows
that permanganate of potash, if admins
Gered while person is still alive, begins
at once to destroy the poison 1t SHOULD
be administered in successive doses, say al
intervals of 20 minutes | do not claim
however, that Rtropine should not also bt
administered hypodermically. Everything
should be done to maintain the heart.
action"
DR.. Moor is hopeful that the power o
the permanganate in killing poison ex
tends to poisons other than those derived
from opium. Cocaine is one of the sub
stances with which he is experimenting II
addition to strychnino and atropine. HI
knows from experiment that the effects o
permanganate upon these substances i
different from that upon morphine and il
the case of strychnine is very much slower
He said yesterday that he did not know
that it had ever been asocrtained whE
was the active principle of rattlesnake'
poison. ~ am going to experiment will
the rattlesnake however" said he. ~
the poison gets into the stomach, ther
ought to be way Of reaching it, az i
done with morphine. New York World
Tho Motion Was Denied.
They tell good story about a judg
who is we'll known in Buffalo, Some tim
ago a man who is "shyster" lawyc
came before him to make motion. Thi
man lived in one of the suburban towns