On potassium permanganate as an antidote to vegetable poisons / by H.C. Wood.

  • Wood, Horatio Curtis, 1841-1920.
Date:
1894
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Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: On potassium permanganate as an antidote to vegetable poisons / by H.C. Wood. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

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    from under the funnel, although the mixed solutions were poured upon the filter-paper within a minute of their original conjunction. The result of the experiments seems to show that the filtrate from the mixed solution of potassium permanganate and morphine sulphate is almost, but not absolutely, devoid of poisonous properties. Twice the ordinary dose of the morphine solution failed to produce any symptoms, and when death did occur after an enormous dose of the filtrate the symptoms were not those of morphine-poisoning ; an indi- cation that the result may have been produced by some substance other than the narcotic alkaloid. I next attempted a series of experiments upon dogs with the morphine given by the mouth, but found the result very unsatisfactory. In a number of control experiments I failed entirely to kill the dog with morphine. Thus fifty cubic centimetres of a 4-per-cent, solution of morphine sulphate (representing 30.7 grains of alkaloidal salt) pro- duced in a dog weighing ten kilos great quietude, with some stiffness and much evidence of illness, ending, however, in complete recovery ; and when I assayed larger doses vomiting came on in every case, and no symptoms of morphine-poisoning were produced. Two somewhat satisfactory experiments were made with the morphine solution in the rabbit. Ten cubic centimetres of a 4-per-cent, solution of morphine I found to cause in a rabbit weighing 3.25 pounds violent, persistent tetanus, beginning in fifteen minutes, but finally recovered from ; while in a second experiment with a rabbit weighing 3.50 pounds ten cubic centimetres of the narcotic solution, followed in six minutes by ten cubic centimetres of the potassium permanganate (4 per cent.), failed to produce any evidence of poisoning whatever. From these few and inconclusive experiments it is evident that such enormous amounts of morphine are recovered from by the animal when the alkaloid is given by the mouth that antidotal experiments are very unsatisfactory. Under these circumstances chemical studies become of especial value. I am happy to be able to give the results of some very careful work by Professor Wormley. Professor Wormley dissolved 250 milligrammes of morphine sul- phate in 25 cubic centimetres of water containing 500 milligrammes of potassium permanganate ; maintained temperature at ioo° C. for ten minutes, at end of which time color was discharged. The mixture was then treated with slight excess of ammonia and extracted with hot amylic alcohol ; the extract showed traces of morphine. In conclusion, it seems to me that the evidence which has been offered by Dr. Moor and others, taken in conjunction with what I have been able to bring forward, indicates that the potassium permanganate given by the mouth directly after poisoning is a valuable, but not