APOMORPHINE AS AN ANTIDOTE TO STRYCHNINE POISONING

Abstract

In the course of another study the observation was made that a combination of morphine and apomorphine in very small doses, which by themselves produced no appreciable depression, gave rise to an unusual degree of motor fatigue. Experiments were then planned to determine whether this action might prove useful in antagonizing the actions of strychnine, in view of the recent report by Haggard and Greenberg 1 that in dogs and rats convulsions are diminished and recovery occurs after the administration of more than the single fatal dose of strychnine when the animals are treated with apomorphine, and in view of Dr. Martin's report, quoted by these authors, indicating that similar results can be obtained in man. In preliminary experiments the combination of morphine and apomorphine in very small doses proved entirely ineffective against strychnine poisoning, and the plan was not pursued further, but in one experiment a very large dose