INDIAN MEDICAL GAZETTE.
1(50
(ttorraspitfatf. PERMANGANATE OF POTASH AS AN ANTIDOTE TO OPIUM. To the Editor,
"
Indian Medical Gazette."
Sir,?Will you grant me room in your columns to bring to the notice of the profession in India an alleged simple remedy for opium poisoning. I found it in the columns of that enterprising paper the Pal Mall Gazette for February 28th. Dr. William Moor, a teacher in a German clinic in New York, brought forward lately permanganate of potassium as a cure in cases of opium poisoning, and for the relief of victims of the morphine habit. In the presence of a number of medical men Dr. Moor is stated to have taken 3 grs. of morphine carefully weighed and immediately after drank a solution of permanganate of potassium (4 grs. in 4 oz. of water). He was not accustomed to morphine, nevertheless he swallowed 3 gre. without any bad or any narcotic effect. He showed by experiment that morphine taken by the mouth or hypodermically can be completely neutralised by permanganate of potass., given either internally or under the skin. He also showed that a soluble salt of morphia if mixed with a solution of permanganate of same strength, say in a test tube, is immediately oxidised and the product is free from narcotic properties, and can be swallowed without producing any such. Also that the reaction between permanganate and albumen or peptone is much slower than between permanganate and morphia. Test.?Mix white of egg \ oz. with 1 oz. of water and in it dissolve morphine gr. i; to this mixture add 1 gr. of permanganate in 1 oz. water. He states that no test will discover any morphine in this mixture, and that the solution is free fromjany narcotic properties. Therefore permanganate will act as an antidote in the stomach even in the presence of food. He states that permanganate gr. 1 will decompose and render harmless an equal quantity of morphia.
In cases, therefore, of opium poisoning he advises immediate exhibition of this antidote. He further states that in cases of poisoning by laudanum or pure opium the antidote should be acidulated with dilute sulphuric acid or white vinegar to convert the insoluble alkaloid into a soluble salt. In cases of poisoning permanganate ought to be administered every half hour (grs. 10 in water) and repeated three or four times. Permanganate has not been found by Dr. Moor to have any action upon atropine, veratrine, aconitine or their salts, nor cocain, nor pilocarpin. In cases of strychnine poisoning he states that the presence of organic matter in the stomach would prevent this drug being of any value. I have had no opportunity of testing the truth of the above remarks; but casea of opium poisoning are very common in India, so perhaps some of your readers will soon have a chance of trying the above remedy, which has the merit of being simple and at the same time harmless. I understand that in cases of the morphia habit after each injection of the morphia he injects the permanganate or gives a sufficient quantity by the mouth. Being at present without books of reference, I cannot say if this remedy has ever been sug-
gested before. Dublin,
Marcu
i, ley4.
W. J. BUCHANAN, B.A., m.b., Surgeon-Copt., J.M.S.
[April
1894.
1(50
(ttorraspitfatf. PERMANGANATE OF POTASH AS AN ANTIDOTE TO OPIUM. To the Editor,
"
Indian Medical Gazette."
Sir,?Will you grant me room in your columns to bring to the notice of the profession in India an alleged simple remedy for opium poisoning. I found it in the columns of that enterprising paper the Pal Mall Gazette for February 28th. Dr. William Moor, a teacher in a German clinic in New York, brought forward lately permanganate of potassium as a cure in cases of opium poisoning, and for the relief of victims of the morphine habit. In the presence of a number of medical men Dr. Moor is stated to have taken 3 grs. of morphine carefully weighed and immediately after drank a solution of permanganate of potassium (4 grs. in 4 oz. of water). He was not accustomed to morphine, nevertheless he swallowed 3 gre. without any bad or any narcotic effect. He showed by experiment that morphine taken by the mouth or hypodermically can be completely neutralised by permanganate of potass., given either internally or under the skin. He also showed that a soluble salt of morphia if mixed with a solution of permanganate of same strength, say in a test tube, is immediately oxidised and the product is free from narcotic properties, and can be swallowed without producing any such. Also that the reaction between permanganate and albumen or peptone is much slower than between permanganate and morphia. Test.?Mix white of egg \ oz. with 1 oz. of water and in it dissolve morphine gr. i; to this mixture add 1 gr. of permanganate in 1 oz. water. He states that no test will discover any morphine in this mixture, and that the solution is free fromjany narcotic properties. Therefore permanganate will act as an antidote in the stomach even in the presence of food. He states that permanganate gr. 1 will decompose and render harmless an equal quantity of morphia.
In cases, therefore, of opium poisoning he advises immediate exhibition of this antidote. He further states that in cases of poisoning by laudanum or pure opium the antidote should be acidulated with dilute sulphuric acid or white vinegar to convert the insoluble alkaloid into a soluble salt. In cases of poisoning permanganate ought to be administered every half hour (grs. 10 in water) and repeated three or four times. Permanganate has not been found by Dr. Moor to have any action upon atropine, veratrine, aconitine or their salts, nor cocain, nor pilocarpin. In cases of strychnine poisoning he states that the presence of organic matter in the stomach would prevent this drug being of any value. I have had no opportunity of testing the truth of the above remarks; but casea of opium poisoning are very common in India, so perhaps some of your readers will soon have a chance of trying the above remedy, which has the merit of being simple and at the same time harmless. I understand that in cases of the morphia habit after each injection of the morphia he injects the permanganate or gives a sufficient quantity by the mouth. Being at present without books of reference, I cannot say if this remedy has ever been sug-
gested before. Dublin,
Marcu
i, ley4.
W. J. BUCHANAN, B.A., m.b., Surgeon-Copt., J.M.S.
[April
1894.
