THE TRANQUILIZING POTENCY OF MORPHINE, PANTOPON, CODEINE, PAPAVERINE AND NARCOTINE

Abstract

Sahli,¹following the introduction of omnopon, expressed the opinion that the combination of the alkaloids of opium produced a stronger and more rapid action than morphine. Winternitz²administered large dosages of the residual alkaloids to man, and although he was able to produce narcosis without undesirable side actions concluded that morphine was quite superior if analgesia was required. Macht and his associates,³after an extensive study of the responses of man to graded electrical stimuli before and after the administration of a series of the opium alkaloids, reported that the order of analgesic power was morphine > papaverine > codeine > narcotine > and thebaine. Codeine was reported as quite inferior to either morphine or papaverine. Narcotine alone produced an initial hypersensitiveness which was followed by a slight analgesia. Nevertheless, combinations of narcotine and morphine (narcophine) were said to produce a better analgesia than did the morphine