120 
LIQUOR  OPII  COMPOSITUS. 
anorexia,  nausea,  headache,  &c.  Now  in  medicine  as  in  me- 
chanics, it  would  be  fallacious  to  expect  to  control  a  reaction 
independent  of  control  of  the  power  producing  it,  and  therefore 
the  writer  never  supposed  that  any  preparation  of  opium  could 
be  made  to  produce  the  full  opiate  effect  without  the  correspond- 
ing reaction,  but  only  hoped  that  by  having  a  preparation  of 
known  and  fixed  power,  the  indications  might,  by  proper  gradu- 
ation of  dose,  be  just  met  and  not  over-reached,  and  that  thus  the 
rebound  or  reaction  might  be  avoided  in  measure.  In  regard 
to  this  preparation  thus  far,  there  does  seem  to  be  force  in  this 
reasoning,  and  truth  in  the  practice,  that  it  does  produce  less 
profound  narcotism,  a  sleep  that  has  less  of  coma  about  it,  and 
of  a  more  normal  character  than  the  opium  in  substance  or  its 
tincture,  and  that  the  unpleasant  after-effects  are  far  less,  both 
in  quality  and  degree. 
The  combination  with  even  so  small  a  proportion  of  the  com- 
pound spirit  of  ether  as  12  J  per  cent,  seems  also  to  have  a  modi- 
fying influence  which  for  a  great  majority  of  cases  overbalances 
the  disadvantages  of  the  odor,  taste,  and  even  the  injurious 
medicinal  effect  of  this  agent  in  a  few  instances.  The  combina- 
tion, however,  is  one  long  and  favorably  known  in  the  profes- 
sion, and  one  to  the  value  of  which  the  writer  can  bear  personal 
testimony.  The  quantity  of  the  Hoffman's  Anodyne  introduced 
into  the  preparation  is  so  guarded,  as  to  be  sufficient,  as  is  sup- 
posed, to  protect  the  watery  solution  from  change  by  keeping, 
and  at  the  same  time  not  large  enough  to  interfere  with  its  use 
where  anodynes  are  required  in  acute  inflammatory  affections. 
LIQUOR  OPII '  COMPOSITUS. 
( Compound  Solution  of  Opium?) 
By  Edward  R.  Squibb,  M.  D. 
Take  of  Opium,  sliced,  16  parts, 
Compound  Spirit  of  Ether,       a  sufficient  quantity. 
Ether,  fortior,  12  parts, 
Alcohol,  112  parts, 
Water,  a  sufficient  quantity. 
Digest  the  opium  with  four  times  its  weight  of  water  for 
twenty-four  hours,  with  occasional  stirring  during  the  first  twelve 
i 
