Portland, Me., 15th of November, 1876. 
Dear Sir, 
At its August meeting, the attention of the Cumberland County Medical 
Society was called to an alleged “ Opium Antidote,” which a member had found to contain 
morphine, and the undersigned were appointed a committee to obtain a quantitative analysis of 
the preparation. While this investigation was proceeding, another so-called “ Opium Antidote ” 
was brought to the notice of the committee, and was subjected to a similar examination. 
The first specimen, manufactured by Mrs. J. A. Drollinger, of La Porte, Indiana, was an- 
alyzed by Walz and Stillwell, Chemists, New York City, who found it to consist of glycerine 
colored with aniline red and containing in solution 1.383 per cent, by weight of the sulphate of 
morphia—about seven grains to the ounce. 
The second was the preparation of “Dr. S. B. Collins, the great Narcologist of the Age,” of 
La Porte, Indiana. The analysis of this was made by Dr. Henry Carmichael, Professor of 
Chemistry in Bowdoin College and Assayer of the State of Maine, and differed from the pre- 
ceding only in the amount of the sulphate of morphia shown to be present, namely, 3.2 per cent. 
A teaspoonful (a dose frequently prescribed by the proprietor) would contain almost two grains 
of the morphia—nearly twelve times the ordinary medicinal dose. 
The Society instructed the Committee to publish the result of the investigations, in order 
that the large number of opium-eaters in this country who are earnestly striving to overcome 
their health-destroying habit may be seasonably warned against these widely-advertised nostrums, 
which, while promising a safe and sure cure, only serve to increase the appetite for opium until it 
finally becomes unconquerable. 
This circular is sent to every physician and editor in the State of Maine, and to many other 
persons of prominence and influence, who will be able to give wide publicity to these facts and 
thus help diminish the prevalence of the opium habit, which is yearly destroying great numbers 
of our people. Opium eating is usually practised without the knowledge of friends, and the 
attempts at cure are often equally secret; therefore the information which has been acquired 
concerning these dangerous preparations must be extensively disseminated in order to certainly 
reach those for whose benefit only it was sought. Will you assist in the work by making known 
these facts in your neighborhood ? 
FREDERIC HENRY GERRISII, M. D., 
GEORGE F. FRENCH, M. D., 
THOMAS A. FOSTER, M. D., 
Committee.