S73 



NAPLES YELLOW. 



NARCOTICS. 



S71 



but for his discovery of logarithms ; and even yet it might be used 

 with advantage by young arithmeticians in verification of their work. 

 We shall therefore describe it, with a very slight modification, which 

 somewhat facilitates its use. 



The preceding cut represents one of the rods belonging to the 

 number 3. It is a parallelogram with an angle of 45, containing nine 

 equilateral parallelograms, with one vertical diagonal in each. In these 

 are distributed, iu a manner which will be visible at a glance, the 

 multiples cf the number which stands at the head, up to nine times. 

 A sufficient number of rods must be provided for each of the headings 

 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, so that by placing the proper rods side by 

 side, any number may be seen at the head, as iu the following diagram, 

 which represents rods in juxtaposition ready for the multiplication of 

 709958. 



709953 

 32978 



5679664 

 4969706 

 6389622 

 1419916 

 2129874 



23412994924 



If we wish to multiply by 32978, we look at the eighth column of 

 multiples, in which we see the following disposition of figures (which, 

 however, it is not necessary to write down afresh) : 



602204 

 507746 



These may be added on the rods, and the result 5679664 written 

 down in its proper place. The same is done with the other digits, and 

 the results are added in the ueiial manner. 



The only difference between the preceding description and Napier's 

 rods is, that in the latter the rods are upright, and the additions that 

 are made from the rods are therefore made diagonally. The compart- 

 ments should be made large enough to allow of the figures which are 

 to be added standing directly under one another. They represent a 

 method on paper of the Hindoo arithmeticians, of which Napier knew 

 nothing. 



Napier's bnrtu, as they were called, have been much more often 

 described in historical works than in those intended for use. Sir 

 Walter Scott must have had an indistinct remembrance of them, with- 

 out however knowing what the phrase meant, when he made Davie 

 li.iniH.iy, in the ' Fortunes of Nigel,' swear by " the bones of the 

 immortal Napier." 



NAPLES YELLOW. A pigment used by artists. It consists 

 of antimoniiite of lead, and is produced by heating antimonic acid 

 with oxide of lead. 



NARCEINE. [OPIUM, ALKALOIDS OF.] 



NAKCKTIXK. [OPIUM, ALKALOIDS OK.] 



NARCITIN. A non-azotised emetic substance found in the white 



NARCOGENINE. [OPIUM, ALKALOIDS or.] 



NARCOTICS (from the Greek adjective mpicariiifs, which is from 

 vapirfi, a stiffening, stupor, or insensibility), a class of medicines which 

 may be defined agents which, in moderate doses, cause a temporary 

 increase of the action of the nervous and also of j the vascular system, 

 followed more or less speedily by a marked diminution of this action, 

 terminating generally in sleep. When the dose is large, the excitement 

 is scarcely perceptible; while the diminished power of the nervous 

 system is so manifest, that an appearance of coma or apoplexy is 

 induced. All the agents included in this class are capable of producing 

 a state termed narcosis, or narcotism, which, if not quickly removed 

 by a natural subsiding of their influence, or by artificial means, may 

 terminate in death. Many of them are therefore as familiarly known. 

 as poisons as therapeutic agents. It is the consideration of them how- 

 ever in this latter quality which is to be entered on in this place. Their 

 power of inducing sleep has procured for them the name of hypnotics, 

 or soporifics ; and the property which many of them possess of alle- 

 viating pain, by blunting the sensibility, has obtained for them the 

 appellation of anodynes [AXODYXES], or, from one of the best known 

 among them, simply opiates. 



The most important consideration respecting them is the circum- 

 stance of their depressing action being always preceded by a stimulant. 

 This peculiarity renders their employment difficult in some cases and 

 improper in other?. " Narcotics must be distinguished from stimulants 

 on the one haud, and from sedatives on the other ; and the distinction 

 is the more necessary, because in nature the narcotic principle is gene- 

 rally combined with one or other of these : hence the contradictory 

 and unsatisfactory reports of the value of different narcotic remedies, 

 and the difficulty experienced in their application by those who do not 

 know the reason why opium suits one case, hyoscyamus another." 

 (Billing's ' First Principles of Medicine,' 3rd edit.) The progress of 

 chemistry, by isolating the various active principles existing in the 

 same natural compound, has lessened the difficulty attendant on their 

 administration ; still, as no one can be said to act in a manner precisely 

 similar to another, a correct knowledge of each is desirable in order to 

 ensure the selection of that which is best suited to the case. Diversified 

 as they are in their nature and modes of action, there is this common 

 property)* that they all make a direct impression on the extremities of 

 the nerves (to whatever part of the body, with few exceptions, they 

 are applied) ; but their full and ultimate effects do not take place till 

 they are absorbed, and mingled with the circulating fluid. 



A slight glance at their action on the different systems of the body 

 will furnish a useful guide in their administration. A full dose of a 

 narcotic introduced into the stomach will, if that organ be empty, 

 destroy the desire for food, while, if it contain food, the digestive pro- 

 cess is suspended or rendered slower. Their frequent or continued use 

 is therefore very injurious to that function, on which all the others 

 depend, namely, nutrition ; as is displayed in the persons of opium- 

 eaters of the East, Further, should any considerable irritation or 

 subacute inflammatory condition of the mucous coat of the stomach 

 exist, they cause an aggravation of the febrile symptoms, and either in 

 common or cancerous ulceration of that organ they cause great uneasi- 

 ness. Though their primary effect on the vascular system be stimu- 

 lating, and many of them send thereby a large quantity of blood to the 

 brain (probably the source of their soporific property), their secondary 

 effect is depressing; and in this the respiratory organs participate. 

 This is at once a source of utility and of danger, for by moderating the 

 action of the heart and lungs, the respiration is rendered slower, an 

 advantage in most inflammatory complaints ; but when pushed too far, 

 the blood is not sufficiently aerated, and partaking too much of the 

 nature of venous blood, it does not prove a sufficient stimulus to the 

 brain and other organs. 



Their action upon the secreting system is not very uniform, nor are 

 all writers agreed as to its nature. Opium generally checks most of 

 the secretions, except that of the skin, and causes heat, thirst and con- 

 stipation. Hyoscyamus rarely causes any of these states, but on the 

 contrary is rather laxative, and aconite greatly increases the secretion 

 of the bile and also of the skin. Many natural compounds have an 

 acrid principle combined with the narcotic, and hence are termed 

 iiat'cotico-acrida, such as aconite, squil, colchicum, hellebore, &c. : these 

 generally augment the mucous and other secretions, though they pro- 

 duce narcotism in excessive doses. 



Lastly, some of them possess greater influence over one set of nerves 

 than the other, and expend their energy on the nerves of motion, or of 

 sensation, according to their nature. 



No set of medicines have their action more modified by a variety of 

 circumstances such as the quantity given, or the frequency of repeti- 

 tion, also the force of habit, climate, or season, but above all by 

 idiosyncrasy. Age also has an important share in determining the 

 amount of action. Children do not in general bear them well, and 

 therefore though they are very subject to convulsive and spasmodic 

 diseases, other means should be employed, especially the removal of 

 the source of irritation, when practicable. The various nostrums 

 recommended for children generally contain some narcotic, and prove 

 a fertile cause of the mortality of early life. [ANTISPASMODICS.] The 

 administration of narcotics requires more knowledge and judgment 

 than that of any other class of remedies, and should only be had re- 

 course to under competent advice. 



