SMALL-POX. 507 



objection to giving it in combination with bromide of potassium, and for an adult a 

 very good combination is two table- spoonfuls -of the bromide of potassium mixture 

 (Pr. 31) with a tea-spoonful of syrup of chloral. 



The sedative, draught (Pr. 37) may be used. 



As we all know, opium is a remedy frequently employed for the production of 

 :-Wp, but it is a drug that must be employed with the greatest caution. Many a man 

 has entered upon his last long sleep through the injudicious administration of a dose of 

 laudanum. Never give a sleeping-draught containing opium to any one with extensive 

 lung disease or with disease of the kidneys. Chronic sleeplessness, independent of any 

 notable disease, should not be treated with opium if it is possible to avoid it. As a 

 rule, bromide of potassium and chloral are much safer and better agents than laudanum. 

 Still, when sleeplessness is caused by severe pain, or our other remedies have failed, we 

 1 >e glad to resort to an opiate. When opium is given to produce sleep, attention 

 must be paid to the time of its administration. It should be given at the usual 

 time for sleep, or when the patient feels inclined to dose, so that it may aid Nature, 

 herself striving to induce the same result ; small doses are then as effectual as larger 

 given at a less seasonable time. As a rule, a dose of opium requires about two hours 

 to produce its effects. It is conveniently given in the form of laudanum, twenty dr< >ps 

 in a wine-glassful of water. Sometimes a morphia suppository succeeds better than 

 when the drug is given by mouth. These suppositories are little cones of wax about 

 half an inch long, containing a dose of morphia. When pushed up the back p, 

 they dissolve with the heat of the body, and the effects of the drug are produced. 

 The morphia suppository is a pharmacopoeial preparation, and they may be obtained 

 from any chemist. Only one is to be used at a time. The hypodermic injection of 

 morphia must not be forgotten, although it is not a mode of treatment that we are 

 justified in resorting to without absolute necessity. 



Chlorodyne may often be given with advantage. 



Coffee is an admirable remedy for some forms of sleeplessness. A spoonful or 

 two of veiy strong coffee without sugar or milk will speedily subdue the sleeplessness 

 arising from agitation of mind or body, or from extreme anxiety or mental labour. 

 The wakefulness of children and of old people is especially under its control. 



A small tea-spoonful of spirits of ether or spirits of chloroform, in a wine-glassful 

 of water at bed-time, will often induce sleep. The peevish sleeplessness of children 

 is often removed by tea-spoonful doses of infusion of chamomile. When restlessness 

 depends on indigestion, errors of diet, excesses of any kind, or on constipation, 

 mix vomica may do good. Five drops may be taken in a wine-glassful of water 

 three or four times a day. 



SMALL-POX. 



Small-pox, technically known as Variola, is a most infectious disease, and the 

 contagion can be conveyed to considerable distances. The poison clings tena- 

 ciously to clothes and other articles, especially to those of rough texture, and 

 retains its vitality for a long period, so that it is unwise to go into a room that 

 has been occupied by a small-pox patient until it has been thoroughly disinfected. 



