ACTION OF CERTAIN DRUGS 289 



Not only the shock which results from physical 

 trauma but psychic shock as well may be mitigated 

 by the administration of opium. Before the days of 

 anesthesia heavy doses of laudanum diminished not 

 only the pain but the dread and struggles of the pa- 

 tient to whom the solace of unconsciousness during 

 an operation was denied. During the French Revo- 

 lution the public executioner gave opium to his victims 

 to diminish their struggles and protests. When under 

 the influence of opium, a cat will not spit at a dog ; a 

 rabbit has no fear. Under opium no one is either 

 brave or a coward, but is in a negative state into 

 which psychic stimuli cannot penetrate. 



In cases of exophthalmic goiter the administration 

 of opium will minimize or prevent the hyperthyroidism 

 due to psychic or physical trauma. In extreme cases 

 of Graves' disease, however, when the acid-neutralizing 

 organs the liver and adrenals are nearly exhausted 

 and a state of acidosis exists, <morphin is unsafe, since 

 it will further retard the already failing acid-neutrali- 

 zation. 



It is probable that most deaths from acute infection 

 are the result of an activation of the kinetic system 

 to the breaking point. This fatal exhaustion in acute 

 overwhelming cases may therefore be prevented by deep 

 opium narcotization. In the last generation the value 

 of opium in these cases was more generally recognized 

 than at present. By the so-called "Alonzo Clark" 

 method, opium was given in sufficient dosage to over- 

 come abdominal distension and reduce the respiratory 

 rate to eight or ten per minute. In this trancelike 

 state the kinetic system was held almost at a stand- 



