NARCOTICS 145 



than before. " Soothing sirups " are nearly always some 

 preparation of opium. 



245. Chloral. Chloral is a colorless solid, having a 

 peppery odor and taste. About twenty grains will produce 

 sleep, but an overdose may produce death. It injures the 

 digestive organs and weakens the whole body. It is a 

 narcotic and a poison. 



246. Chloral poisoning. In treating a case of chloral 

 poisoning the patient should be kept awake by walking 

 him about, or even by slapping him. Give a tablespoon- 

 ful of mustard in water to make him vomit. Then give 

 strong coffee to stimulate him. 



247. Cocaine. Cocaine is a drug which, when injected 

 under the skin or applied to a mucous membrane, takes 

 away the sense of feeling of the part. A grain of it will 

 render a large area so completely insensitive for half an 

 hour that large operations can be performed without sense 

 of pain. It may cause excitement like the beginning of 

 a state of drunkenness ; sometimes it produces great weak- 

 ness of the heart and death. 



The excitement caused by the drug is pleasant, and per- 

 sons can acquire a slavish habit of its use. It rapidly dis- 

 turbs digestion and nutrition, and soon causes death. It 

 is one of the most rapid and terrible forms of habitual drug- 

 taking. 



248. Hasheesh. Hasheesh is the juice of the Indian 

 hemp plant, and is sold as a medicine under the name of 

 cannabis indica. In Southern Asia it is extensively used 

 as a narcotic. It produces a happy delirium, in which 

 a person sees most beautiful persons and figures. The 

 state is really a temporary insanity, in which one is liable 

 to injure others. The word "assassin" means one under 

 the influence of hasheesh. 



OV. PHYSIOL. IO 



