DIFFERENCES IN THE PHYSIOLOGIC ACTION OF THE SALTS OF AN ALKALOID.

Whether or not all the salts of an alkaloid, when the differences in their solubilities are excluded, have the same physiologic action is a question which is usually evaded in text-books on pharmacology and therapeutics. It is the general opinion that all the salts of an alkaloid, in the doses in which they are ordinarily administered, do have, aside from the local effect due to differences in solubility, the same action. Cushny,¹ speaking of the excessively bitter taste of quinin, says that it may be prescribed as a salt of tannic acid. This salt is exceedingly insoluble and is consequently almost tasteless. The pure alkaloid may be advantageously used for the same purpose and for the same reason. Where a rapid action is desired, a freely soluble salt—as the hydrochlorid, the bisulphate or the hydrobromate—is usually employed. Such salts as the above are the ones which are usually chosen