92 



FLORA HOMCEOPATHICA. 



antipathic remedy, and not according to the homoeopathic 



law. 



"Opium has this distinguishing property, that in irritable 

 persons who are unaccustomed to it, especially in large doses, 

 it causes a reaction, beginning very remarkably, very rapid, 

 and often instantaneous, but which, either by its briefness, 

 its rare occurrence, or its nature, must not be confounded 

 with its principal and primitive effects. This reaction, rare 

 and momentary, perfectly resembles the reaction of the human 

 organism upon Opium, and may be called its shadow. The 

 symptoms are, a death-like paleness, coldness of the limb 

 and whole body, cold perspiration, anxiety, trembling, trepida- 

 tion, but very seldom any degree of pain. 



" In cases of poisoning by strong doses of Opium, scarcely 

 any of its primitive effects appear, but this peculiar commencing 

 reaction gives place immediately to death, as Dr. Willis relates, 

 and as I have myself seen. 



" The people of the East, who so much abuse the use of 

 Opium, are, as soon as intoxication ceases, in a continued state 

 of opiatic reaction : their intellectual faculties are diminished ; 

 they are chilly, pallid, bloated, trembling, irresolute, weak] 

 stupid, with an anxious countenance, and feelings of general 

 uneasiness. They early have recourse to their accustomed 

 number of Opium pills to revive heat and circulation, to reani- 

 mate their spirits, awaken ideas in their dull imagination, and 

 restore activity to their paralysed muscles. 



" The antidotes to dangerous doses of Opium are the tincture 

 of Ipecacuanha, Camphor, but above all, strong Coffee used in 

 various ways, together with friction. But if the body is become 

 icy-cold, insensible, and the muscular fibre deprived of irrita- 

 bility, the palliative use of a warm bath must be tried. 



M When Opium, given in large doses to calm pain, or remove 

 diarrhoea, has produced, as it frequently does, real paralysis of 

 the limbs, it is as impossible to be cured as that which is caused 

 by violent electric disturbance. 



