52 J^arcotine, and Sulphate of Morphine. 



often witnessed this operation from the Sulphate, and quite as fre- 

 quently in women as in men. Dr. Bally thinks that Morphine neither 

 increases nor diminishes the secretion of urine, nor changes its 

 qualities in any way. Perhaps this is strictly correct of the Sul- 

 phate, though it has always appeared to me to diminish this secretion 

 moderately. However, I do not consider my observations as decisive 

 on this point. 



Dr. Bally says that an occasional dose of Morphine produces torpor 

 of the intestines, but that its continued use renders the intestines lax. 

 A regular and continued use of the Sulphate of Morphine, in uni- 

 form doses, and at equal intervals, has been as liable, under my ob- 

 servation, to produce costiveness, as a similar use of Opium, though 

 I have not generally found a single full dose of it to produce this 

 effect. On the contrary, it has, in many cases, been followed, after 

 about twelve hours, with a single loose evacuation. On my patients, 

 and on myself, I have uniformly found the Sulphate of Morphine to 

 be both speedy and effectual, in checking Diarrhoea. In my hands, it 

 has always radically cured all cases, in which I have employed it. I 

 have never used it however, in any case requiring extremely large 

 quantities of medicine for its relief. 



In single large doses, the Sulphate of Morphine produces only 

 sedadve effects ; but, in moderate and uniform doses, at regular and 

 short intervals, and continued for some time, it certainly produces 

 stimulant effects, i. e. it occasions a rapidly diffused and transient 

 increase of the vital energies generally, and particularly of the strength 

 of arterial action. What propordon its stimulant operation may 

 bear to its other effects, in comparison with Opium, is not perhaps 

 well settled. Dr. Bally expressly denies that Morphine " excites" 

 the vascular system at all, even in small doses, and certainly not in 

 large ones. Does he suppose that it would be admissible in a truly 

 phlogisdc, sthenic, or entonic disease ? Has he ever employed it, in 

 moderate and uniform doses, at regular and short intervals, and for 

 a considerable time ? If not, he has not tried it fairly. But Dr. Bally 

 supposes that a " disturbance of the functions of the circulating sys- 

 tem,''^ by large doses, has been mistaken for a stimulant effect. Cul- 

 len also supposed that an " irritation of the sanguferous system," 

 which he admitted was the "first operation" of Opium, was mistaken 

 for stimulation. Now it matters not, by what name this operation 

 is called, so long as it is admitted that it exerts this operation, for this 

 is undoubtedly the operaUon that augments phlogistic diathesis, and 

 diminishes the atonic. It is an operation which is essentially attend- 



