EFFECT ON THE ELECTRO-ENCEPHALOGRAM OF CERTAIN DRUGS WHICH INFLUENCE NERVOUS ACTIVITY

The electro-encephalogram is analogous to the electrocardiogram; it is a record of the electrical potentials originating in the brain. Hans Berger1demonstrated the feasibility of "leading off" these potentials through the intact human skull and made records of them in various neurologic and pharmacologic conditions. In work already published we2(together with Hallowell Davis) have reported the changes of electrical potential which accompany impaired consciousness, either when occurring spontaneously, as in petit mal, or when induced by means of syncope, anoxemia or hyperpnea. We now wish to report the changes resulting from the administration of various drugs. Our observations follow those of Berger1c,has regards certain of the drugs and those of Loomis and Harvey3as regards acute alcoholism. Aside from these authors we know of no one who has studied the effect of drugs on the electro-encephalograms of human beings. Various workers have, however, carried