St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1894-04-29
harmless and easily obtainable upon all

harmless and easily obtainable upon all
OCCASIONS.
OF its Importance in the treatment of
the morphine and opium habits it is too
early 10 speak authOritatively, but. ii
DIR. .fO )r'S opinion is correct, its useful
ness in this direcllon will prove Incaicu-
liable.
DIR. Moor has been experimenting with
his new antidOte since early spring, but
| 1t was not until the meeting of the West
! Side German clinic on Jan. 9 that
| he felt that he had advanced far enough
| to permit of an experiment which would
instantly establish the Importance of
| his discovery to the eyes Of his col
| leagues.
| Among the physicians who were pres
| ent on the occasion in question were
DIR. Valentine. president of the clinic;
| DR.. EgbeIt A. Grandin, DIR. F. W.
Warner, DR.. Herman l.. Coilyer. DR..
William Gotthell. DR.. j. NJ. Bieyer. DE-.
Ii. Goelet and DIR. William j. Brickel.
| mailer.
Ins experiment. which was as I'M
expected as it was startling, took place
/ al s O'clock in the evening. DIR. Got
| theil ordered Druggist Lesser to weigh
! out three grains OF morphine
'Here, gentleman, "he said, rare three
| grains of morphine which DIR. Moor
| wishes to take in our presence tonight
| in order TO show the efficacy OF the anti
dote which he has discovered. He takes it
! in our presence SO that he may refer to
| US as witnesses in the scientific report
! regarding it which he proposes to make
| public shortly"
! DR.. GottheiI held the powder out in
! his hand and said:
HGentlemen, do you wish to see DIR.
! Moor make this experiment."
DR.. Grandin and DR.. Murray displayed
| some uneaSneSS, and both finally said
! they did not care to witness any such
! attempt as that proposed.
! President Valentine agreed with them.
| II, for one, gentlemen" he said, do not
| wish TO DE particeps cri minis"
/ AT DIR. GottheiI's request the question
was voted upon. and majority decided
| that DIR. Moor should not swallow the
dose weighed out by the druggist of
| theclinic.
WELL" DR.. Moor said, "ln that case
| Pll take some Which l will weigh my
/ self, and l will do it entirely On my own
r responsibility"
Ia new antidote, .2as been long
| known, is a destroyer of organic matter
L he reason it has not been used until
j now as an antidOte for morphine is that
| il WAS generally regarded as certain to
| be denXidiZed ard so rendered powerless
by contact with the organic matter of
I the stomach. But DR.. Moor's discovery
4 is that the permanganate will select a
! soluble salt of morphine from among
the albumen. peptone and other contents
or tile stomach with astonishing rapidity
and avidlty.
!, Ii will, in fact, decOmpOSe morphine
lssalt several hundred times quicker than
it will decompose albumen. The dis
covery of this faculty of selecti"n-of
the permanganate's affinity with the
morphine salt-gave DIR. Moor his cue
The aHtidote acts upon the poison at
! Which it is aimed long before the other
| contents of the stomach have had time
to destroy its antidotal powers.
4 Ia, cases variations of opium other than
the sulphates of morphine have been
taken internally DR.. Moor has found
the eantidote should be calculated with
vinegar in the proportion of one TO five
and then it proves efflcacious at once
The lapse Of an hour or two will not. it
is thought, make the new antidote use.
less, though the counteraction must
| necessarily be slower and less satlStac-
| tory i'll such cases.
Happily, opium and its salts are slow
poisonS, and death seldom ensueS for
some hours. 1t is this which leads to
( tn; hope that the scope of the new dis
cuvery may be far greater than can set
be seen.