Cases are admitted from time to time to most large hospitals in a state of coma or semi-coma in which the differential diagnosis includes overdosage with the barbiturate series of narcotic drugs. It is often important to confirm or exclude this factor as quickly as possible. Standard methods of analysis (e.g., the Stas-Otto process, Smith, 1934a), although ultimately giving accurate quantitative results, are time-consuming.
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Selwyn et al. (1950) studied this question.