LIQUOR  OPII  COMPOSITUS. 
35 
nausea  and  disgust,  but  should  rather  contain  some  corrective  or 
corrigent  to  this  tendency  to  nausea.  The  compound  spirit  of 
ether  was  used  in  the  preparation  chiefly  as  a  preservative  agent, 
to  prevent  change  in  the  solution,  but  also  to  have  whatever 
effect  it  might,  in  so  small  a  proportion  (3  minims  in  24),  in  fa- 
vorably modifying  the  action  of  the  opiate.  Dr.  Physick  and 
many  other  excellent  authorities  had  the  habit  of  associating  the 
true  Hoffman's  anodyne  (made  with  heavy  oil  of  wine)  with  their 
opiates,  and  the  habit  was  confirmed  by  their  observation  of  the 
effects  obtained.  It,  however,  could  not  be  introduced  into  the 
compound  solution  of  opium  in  sufiicient  quantity  to  be  very 
effective,  even  as  an  adjuvant,  and  it  is  therefore  highly  proba- 
ble that  its  chief  agency  has  been  that  of  a  preservative  against 
change  in  the  preparation,  and  therefore  that  it  mig*ht  be  re- 
placed by  some  other  preserving  agent,  even  if  objectionable 
only  in  a  small  proportion  of  the  cases  in  which  it  is  used,  with- 
out altering  the  intrinsic  character  or  value  of  the  preparation. 
The  second  objection  to  the  compound  solution  of  opium  was 
that  when  long  kept  in  a  bottle  only  partially  full,  particularly 
when  thus  kept  in  warm  climates,  or  in  a  warm  place  in  a  dis- 
penser's store,  it  would  gradually  lose  the  odor  of  ether,  and 
assume  that  of  acetic  ether.  This  change  was  rarely  completed 
in  less  than  two  or  three  years,  but  numerous  instances  have 
been  met  with  where  every  trace  of  both  ether  and  heavy  oil  of 
wine  odor  had  disappeared.  Such  specimens,  when  carefully 
tried,  were  found  to  possess  their  full  original  anodyne  and 
hypnotic  value,  and  gave  to  some  good  observers  the  impression 
or  conviction  that  the  acetic  ether  thus  spontaneously  generated 
was  an  improvement  upon  that  which  it  replaced.  Through 
watching  this  suggestion  during  the  past  two  years,  and  reading 
somewhat  upon  the  uses  of  acetic  ether  in  continental  Europe, 
where  it  is  occasionally  prescribed,  the  conclusion  has  been 
reached  that  even  in  small  quantities  it  has  a  pleasant  stimulant 
effect,  and  that  its  odor  and  taste  are  refreshing  and  agreeable 
to  a  large  majority  of  people,  or  indeed  to  almost  all.  And 
finally,  that  if  medicinal  at  all,  it  is  so  to  nervous  susceptible 
persons,  and  always  in  the  direction  of  favorably  modifying  the 
well  known  disagreeable  effects  of  opiates. 
