PAP AVER SOMNIFERUM. 01 



terise the diseases. In this case, the remedy, in the smallest 

 dose, cures both the disease and the pain with surprising quick- 

 ness and certainty. This may be proved by any one's expe- 

 rience. 



"By not recognising this law, and treating all pains anti- 

 pathically by Opium, we have seen the use of this drug bring 

 on a train of evil consequences — stupor, constipation, and other 

 serious symptoms which appertain to Opium, and without which 

 it would not be what it is. But persons have deceived them- 

 selves as to the character of these inevitable effects. Instead 

 of perceiving in them results inherent in the nature of Opium, 

 they have considered them as derived from some accessory pro- 

 perties, which they have taken unwearied pains to separate 

 from it. Hence the various correctives that have been tried 

 for two thousand years, in the hope of soothing spasms and pain, 

 without bringing on delirium or constipation; of suppressing 

 vomiting and diarrhoea, without causing stupor; of procuring 

 sleep, without heat, headache, tremors, languor, depression, 

 and extreme sensitiveness to cold. 



" To effect this, Opium has been combined with warm aro- 

 matics, intended to prevent the disposition to chilliness that 

 occurs in its reaction, aperients, etc. etc. Also, it has been 

 attempted, by repeated filtration, to remove a supposed inju- 

 rious resin. It has been digested for months, to dissipate a 

 volatile narcotic principle, thought to be poisonous. And lastly, 

 it has been attempted to purify it by roasting it at the fire, thus 

 converting it into an invaluable panacea for all imaginable dis- 

 eases. 



" But this is all fallacious. By all these means Opium is 

 only rendered less active, without changing its nature. Larger 

 doses become necessary to produce the same end, and act pre- 

 cisely as in its primary state. 



u Opium therefore is not, more than any other drug, hidden 

 under accessory qualities; but its medicinal properties must 

 become hurtful and dangerous when it is only used as an 



