Abstract
Studies were made by the authors on the behavior of white rats in Watson's circular maze. A total number of eighteen rats was used. The animals were trained to find their way through the intricate labyrinth of the maze in the shortest period of time without making any error. They were then injected with the various drugs studied, and their behavior, both immediately after injection and for some time afterwards, was observed. The experiments on the rats in the maze gave data concerning the memory habit of the animals, their activity, and the coördination of their movements after the administration of the narcotics. A large number of experiments was performed on different rats, and the effects of the following opiates were studied: Morphin, codein, thebain, narcotin, narcein and papaverin. In addition to the individual alkaloids, the following combinations were also administered: pantopon (total opium alkaloids) and narcophin (morphin plus narcotin).
It was found that morphin, in both large and small doses, impaired the memory and the behavior of the rats. In the case of only one of the animals was there an excitation or stimulation noted after small doses of the drug. After large doses of morphin, the impairment was long-lasting, continuing for several days. In most cases, however, the animals eventually completely recovered from the effects of the narcotic.
In regard to the comparative effects of morphin alone and morphin given in combination in the form of pantopon or narcophin, the following interesting observations were made: Out of 26 experiments with pantopon and morphin, in 22 the effects of morphin were found to be more depressant than those of pantopon.
Out of 9 experiments with morphin and narcophin on the same animals, 7 experiments showed that morphin was more depressant than narcophin.
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