PAPAVERACEjE. 125 



an irresistible tendency to sleep ; all the secretions are diminished except that 

 of perspiration, and there is often nausea and vomiting. The stimulant ope- 

 ration seldom lasts more than one hour, but the sedative effects persist for 

 several. 



When an excessive dose is taken, the sedative influence is almost imme- 

 diate, there being no stimulant stage : there is giddiness and stupor, which 

 rapidly increase, and the person becomes insensible to all external impres- 

 sions, with heavy and stertorous breathing, a slow and oppressed pulse, and 

 contracted pupils. This state continues some time, when the pulse sinks, re- 

 laxation of the muscles comes on, and death ensues, or else violent convul- 

 sions come on, which cease a short time previous to the final event. 



The quantity requisite to produce these phenomena, varies with almost 

 every individual. To some constitutions opium is injurious in very small 

 doses, whilst on others, again, it acts with very diminished powers ; this may 

 arise from the effects of habit or the presence of pain, both of which modify 

 the action of this drug in an astonishing manner. The effects of habit in 

 diminishing the powers of opium on the system are fully exemplified in the 

 large quantities which are daily used with impunity by confirmed opium 

 eaters ; thus, De Quincy, in his extraordinary work, the " Confessions of an 

 English Opium Eater," acknowledges to have taken 8000 drops of laudanum 

 or 210 grains of opium per diem ; and in Pereira's Materia Medica a case is 

 recorded, where an opium eater was in the habit of taking from 120 to 150 

 grains of solid opium in the same space of time. In Turkey, in consequence 

 of the prohibition of wine and spirituous liquors, the consumption of opium as 

 a stimulant was at one time very great, but of late years has much declined, 

 from a relaxation of the laws respecting the sale of alcoholic drinks, though 

 great numbers ofteriakis, or opium eaters, are still to be met with who take 

 this narcotic in large quantities. At the opium shops, where it is sold, it is 

 mixed with a rich syrup, or made up into small lozenges with spices. 



Notwithstanding the morbid effects produced by the use of opium, it has 

 been disputed whether its habitual employment tends to shorten life, and Dr. 

 Christison has given many cases, which serve to prove that it does not ; but 

 it is evident that these and other instances which have been adduced are 

 merely exceptions to the general rule, and cannot be considered as establish- 

 ing that the habitual use of a deleterious article is innocuous, for nothing can 

 be more distressing than the condition of those who indulge in this species of 

 intoxication, when they are not under the influence of the drug. 



Another mode in which opium is largely used, especially in China and the 

 Malayan Archipelago, is that of smoking it ; this appears even more injurious 

 than taking it in substance. We are told that it occasions stupor, forgetful- 

 ness, deterioration of the mental faculties, emaciation, debility, and loss of 

 appetite ; and if the stimulus be withheld, a train of still more distressing 

 symptoms, and even death, ensue. 



The action of opium is also greatly diminished where violent pain exists 

 at the time of taking it, or in peculiar conditions of the system, as tetanus or 

 mania a potu ; in such cases, immense doses of opium have been adminis- 

 tered with scarcely a sensible result, the disease appearing to overcome the 

 powerful properties of the drug. 



Opium diminishes all the' secretions, except that from the skin, which it 

 generally promotes, more especially i'C given in combination with a small 

 portion of ipecacuanha. It is also said not to arrest the secretion of milk or 

 the catamenial discharge in females. In some cases, on the other hand, in- 

 stead of arresting secretions and discharges, it promotes them, and will act 



