53 g  Pharmacologic  Superstitions.        { A^mJe°^ef hIa™- 
peripheral  sensory  nerves.  In  his  investigation  potassium  carbonate 
proved  itself  a  more  powerful  local  anesthetic;  but  how  many  would 
trust  to  potassium  to  calm  the  peristalsis  of  the  rectum. 
It  may  seem  impiously  iconoclastic  to  doubt  the  hallowed  super- 
stitions of  the  opium  suppository.  There  appears  to  be  in  the  minds 
of  those  who  use  it  a  subconscious  delusion  that  as  the  rectum  is 
nearer  to  the  pelvic  organs  than  the  stomach,  the  opium  must  act 
more  powerfully  on  this  portion  of  the  body  when  given  by  supposi- 
tory than  when  given  as  a  pill.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  however, 
physiologically  the  rectum  is  farther  away  from  the  pelvis  than  the 
stomach.  For  opium  placed  in  the  rectum  to  reach  the  bladder,  it 
must  be  absorbed  into  the  circulating  blood  and  carried  up  to  the 
heart  and  back  again  through  the  arterial  system  to  the  pelvis,  and 
as  the  distance  from  the  stomach  to  the  heart  is  less  than  from  the 
rectum  to  the  heart,  it  follows  that  physiologically  the  stomach  is 
nearer  to  the  bladder.  Moreover,  were  it  possible  for  the  morphine 
of  an  opium  suppository  to  penetrate  the  layers  of  mucous  mem- 
brane, connective  tissue  and  muscle  which  separate  the  interior  of 
the  rectum  from  that  of  the  bladder,  it  would  have  no  effect  on  the 
latter  organ,  for  the  anodyne  action  of  morphine,  as  of  the  other 
alkaloids  of  opium,  is  purely  central.  An  opium  suppository  relieves 
the  pain  of  a  pelvic  inflammation  in  the  same  way  that  a  hypodermic 
injection  of  morphine  does,  by  being  carried  to  the  brain  and  be- 
numbing the  perceptive  centers. 
Conclusions. 
I  have  considered  in  some  detail  the  fallacies  of  a  few  common 
practices  not  because  they  are  the  only,  or  even  the  worst,  examples 
of  the  lack  of  judicial  spirit  in  therapeutics,  but  merely  to  illustrate 
by  concrete  illustrations  how  inadequate  is  the  data  to  justify  the 
use  of  some  popular  drugs.  It  would  only  weary  the  reader  and 
serve  no  useful  purpose  to  trace  the  history  of  such  remedies  as 
chimaphila,  cypripedium,  taraxacum,  eupatorium,  Scutellaria,  xantho- 
xylum,  wild  cherry,  cactus,  and  a  host  of  other  contributions  of 
the  Thompsonians  and  the  American  Indians  to  our  materia  medica. 
I  should  like  to  emphasize,  in  closing,  the  explanation  of  the  origin 
and  survival  of  these  practices.  Man,  despite  his  education,  is  still 
a  superstitious  animal.  Two  or  three  years  ago  a  well  known 
psychologist  made  a  poll  of  the  faculty  of  Harvard  University  and 
found  that  a  majority  of  these  men,  representing  the  highest  type 
