AND ANIMAL LIFE. 24Q 



The blood which is circulated at this time is 

 dark, and but slightly stimulating. The con- 

 tractions of the heart, and the vigour of the arte- 

 rial system, occasionally observed under these 

 circumstances, are not excited by the oxygenated 

 properties of the blood as in health, but are con- 

 tinued in action, for a time, by the diffused and 

 stimulating properties of the opium. If it were 

 possible to withdraw from the system the qualities 

 which this poison has bestowed, it is not improbable 

 that this deduction would immediately destroy the 

 powers of life, because the blood would be deficient 

 in its natural stimulus, then indispensable to promote 

 its distribution. 



CCLXX. If we suppose a given quantity of 

 opium to be received into the system, whether 

 from the stomach, cellular tissue, or rectum, it is 

 gradually absorbed, and, in proportion as this is 

 effected, the sensorial powers are disturbed, and 

 this disorder is communicated to the respiratory 

 function, so that, while the former are directly, 

 and the latter indirectly, influenced by the action 

 of opium, the heart is frequently stimulated to 

 augmented action by the same agent ; but as the 

 blood is deteriorated for want of those conditions 

 by which it is perfectly oxygenated, and as its 

 venous qualities accumulate, the artificial stimu- 

 lus of the opium, if it does not act as a sedative 

 from its inordinate quantity, is overcome by 

 the sedative qualities of the blood increasing 



