THE ACTIONS OF PHYSOSTIGMA AND ATROPIA. 531 



of active substances are but few in number, while the evidence on which these 

 examples have been founded is generally imperfect. 



Between Opium and Belladonna, Hyoscyamus or Stramonium. — Among the 

 various instances in which a general antagonism has been stated to exist between 

 the actions of active substances, in the sense that the lethal effect of the one 

 substance is capable of being prevented by the physiological action of the other, 

 the most familiarly known is that where the substances are, on the one hand, 

 opium, and, on the other, belladonna, hyoscyamus, or stramonium. The existence 

 of a belief in the power of belladonna to counteract the general physiological 

 action of opium-, may be referred to so early a date as the year 1570, when it 

 was recorded by Petko Pena and Mathia de Lobel that certain Italian peddlers 

 gained much notoriety by employing the root of the belladonna plant to quench 

 thirst, and by administering opiates to remedy the evil effects that were occa- 

 sionally produced thereby."" In 1661, Horstius reported a case in which the 

 injurious effects of a large dose of the inspissated juice of belladonna were 

 apparently removed by the use of opium.t Soon afterwards, Faber related a 

 somewhat similar experience ;\ and, in 1766, Boucher, of Lille, published five 

 cases of poisoning by belladonna berries, in two of which opium was administered 

 as an antidote. § At the commencement of the present century, Joseph Lippi 

 wrote an inaugural dissertation, " De veneficio baccis belladonnas producto atque 

 opii in eo usu," in which were recorded, according to Giacomini, " pleusieurs 

 guensons a l'aide de laudanum de Sydenham. "|| Giacomini himself expresses a 

 favourable opinion regarding the beneficial effects of opium in poisoning by bella- 

 donna ; and mentions, further, that the Italians were accustomed to administer 

 opium to remove the stupor and convulsions that follow excessive doses of 

 hyoscyamus and stramonium. Within more recent times, many modern authors, 

 as Angelo Poma,H Anderson,"" 4 - CAziN,tt Benjamin Bell,|J Behier,§§ Lee,|||| 

 NoRRis,1ffl and Constantin Paul,"'-""" have published evidence that appears to 

 favour a belief in the existence of this antagonism. This evidence has been 

 derived from cases of poisoning in man by opium, in which belladonna, hyoscyamus, 



* Stirpium Adversaria Nova, authoribus Petro Pena et Mathia de Lobel, Medicis. Londini, 

 1570, p. 103. (Quoted by Dr Norris, The American Journal of the Medical Sciences, vol. xliv. 

 1862, p. 399.) 



t Opera Medica. % Strychnomania, 1677. 



§ Journal de Medecine, Chirurgie et Pharmacie, etc., tome xxiv. 1776, pp. 310—332. 



| Traite philosophique et experimental de Matiere M^dicale et Therapeutique, traduit par Majon 

 et Eognetta, 1839, p. 537. 



IT Gazette Hebdomadaire, 10 Avril 1863. ** Loc. cit. 



ft Traite des Plantes Medicinales Indigenes, 1855. 



XX The Edinburgh Medical Journal, vol. iv. 1859, pp. 1-7. 



§g L'Union Medicale, Juillet 1859. 



Illl The American Journal of the Medical Sciences, vol. xliii. January 1862, p. 54. 



HIT Ibid., vol. xliv. October 1862, p. 395. 



*** De L'Antagonisme en Pathologie et en Th^rapeutique, 1866, pp. 92-115. 



