8~ FLORA HOMCEOPATHICA. 



cause is withheld. The possibility of rousing the patient from 

 the lethargy caused by the Opium is, in general, a good crite- 

 rion for distinguishing the effects of this poison from apoplexy 

 and epilepsy. 



Convulsions, in poisoning by Opium, are not common in the 

 human subject, yet when they do occur they are sometimes 

 very violent. The Journal Universe! (vol. xix. p. 340) contains 

 the case of a soldier who took two drachms of solid Opium, and 

 died in six hours and a half, after being affected with locked 

 jaw and dreadful spasms. A case is related in the 



Medical 



(vol. xxxi. p. 468) 



swallowing an ounce of Laudanum, told what he had done, so 

 that he was seen within three hours by his surgeon ; at that 

 time he was insensible, the mouth was distorted, the jaws fixed, 

 and the hands clenched ; afterwards the insensibility was less- 

 ened by proper remedies, and then he was seized with spasms 

 of the baek, neck, and extremities, so violent as to resemble 

 opisthotonos. Another good case of this kind is m 1^m1 W~ 



Mr 



(m 



rare 



where the voluntary muscles were violently convulsed in fre- 

 quent paroxysms, and were affected in the intervals with 

 subsultus, for three hours, before the sopor came on. The 

 convulsions sometimes assume the form of permanent spasm, 

 which may affect the whole muscles of the body. Another 

 symptom is delirium. 



The state of the pulse varies considerably; in some cases 

 as high as ninety, feeble and irregular, and such appears to 

 be the case when the dose has been so large as to endanger 

 life. Very frequently, however, it is much slower, and then it 

 is rather full than feeble, just as in apoplexy. In the cases 

 where convulsions occur, it is for the most part hurried, and 

 does not become slower till the coma becomes pure. 



The respiration is almost always slow • sometimes it is ster- 

 torous, but this is not common. It is generally very gentle, 

 and in an instance recorded by Dr. Kennis, the breathing could 



