CHAPTER XX. 

 NARCOTICS. 



1. Narcotics. Certain drugs have the power of making 

 the cerebrum unable to work for a time; they thus cause 

 unconsciousness, and produce what seems to be sound 

 sleep. Substances which act on the nervous system in 

 this way, are named narcotics. In small doses, they often 

 relieve pain without causing actual loss of conscious- 

 ness. Chloroform, chloral, ether, opium, laudanum, and 

 morphia are examples of narcotics. Tobacco may be 

 included, since, when not taken as a mere idle luxury, it 

 is employed to soothe the nerves. Alcohol in large 

 doses is also a narcotic. Occasionally, in a crisis of dis- 

 ease, when sleep must be obtained at any cost, or terrible 

 parn is wearing out the strength of the sufferer, a nar- 

 cotic, carefully ordered in proper dose by a physician, is 

 a very valuable medicine. Taken habitually, narcotics 

 weaken the mind, injure the whole nervous system, and 

 cause many diseases. 



2. Opium and Morphia. Opium is a gummy mixture 

 obtained from a kind of poppy. Its chief active prin- 

 ciple is morphia. The forms in which opiates are most 

 used are: (i) gum opium, the natural substance, often put 



1. What power have narcotics? What if taken in small dose? 

 Give examples of narcotics. When is tobacco one? Alcohol? 



2. What is opium? Morphia? What are the commonest forms of 

 opiates ? 



