SUPPLEMENT: OPIUM.
Authorities.
(351
to 353, from Franklin Scott, Inaug.
Diss., Philad., 1803, p. 18); 351,
gave Mr. J. A., æt. twenty-three years, 40 drops of tincture; 352, I took 2 grains, rubbed down, with a
little water; 353, Mrs. H. took 6
drachms of tincture; 354, Dr.
Dufresne, Bib. Hom., vol. i, 1833, p. 227; 355,
J. B. Biddle, M.D., South. Med. and Surg. Journ., July, 1851, p. 427, a
woman took 2 fluid ounces of Laudanum; 356,
A. Hadden, M.D., Amer. Med. Times, vol. i, 1860, p. 149, Mary McD., æt.
twenty-eight years, took a dose of Laudanum; 357,
H. J. Horton, M.D., Med. and Surg. Reporter, vol. xv, 1866, p. 225, Mr.
E. H., æt. thirty years, took 3 ounces of Opium; 358, same, ibid., vol. xiv, p. 336, a child,
two weeks old, took 6 drops of Laudanum; 359,
Henry Gibbons, M.D., Pacific Med. and Surg. Journ., 1868, p. 163, Mrs.
— swallowed a gill of brandy, and immediately after 1/2 an ounce of
Laudanum; 360, J. E. O’Brien, M.D.,
Chicago Med. Journ., vol, xxvi, 1869, p. 720, Emmy C., æt. two years,
swallowed 13 pills of gum Opium, each containing about 1/4 grain; 361, F. W. Campbell, M.D., Canada Med.
Journ., vol. vi, 1870, p. 62, A. B., æt. thirty-two years, took about 2
ounces of Laudanum; 362, J. B.
Chaggon, M.D., ibid., p. 409, Mr. A. G. took same quantity; 363, S. W. Morrison, M.D., Philad. Med.
Times, November, 1875, p. 106, a child, æt. four weeks, took an
indefinite amount; 364, J. C. Morse,
M.D., Pacific Med. and Surg. Journ., 1876, p. 56, a man swallowed
between 40 and 70 grains of Opium; 365,
omitted; 366, C. H. Morfit, M.D.,
Phil. Med. and Surg. Rep., 1877 (2), p. 466, poisoning from swallowing
1/2 ounce of Laudanum; 367, Wm. T.
Plant, M.D., New York Med. Rec., vol. xii, 1877, p. 717, a man, while
intoxicated, took 1 ounce of Laudanum, and died; 368, Dr. Janvrin, Amer. Journ. of Obstet.,
vol. xi, 1877, p. 780, a child æt. five weeks, took 10 drops of
Squibb’s liq. Opii. com.; 369, T. G.
Nasmyth, M. B., Edinb. Med. Journ., December, 1878, p. 505, a woman
swallowed about 12 drachms of Laudanum, and died in thirty-six hours; 370, F. A. Southain, Brit. Med. Journ., 1878
(1), p. 824, a man, æt. thirty-eight years, took a quantity of
Laudanum; 371, North Carolina Med.
Journ., 1879, p. 65, Bettie R., æt. thirty years, swallowed upwards of
1 1/2 fluid ounces of officinal tincture of Opium; 372, Dr. Miclucho Maclay, Chemist and
Druggist (Nature, vol. xix, 1879, p. 492), observations of Dr. Clouth.
MIND.
►
In the forenoon of the second day her mind was very much disturbed at
intervals and by paroxysms; during one of these she would leap out of
bed, and notwithstanding all opposition made by the nurse, would run
downstairs and escape from the doors. These exertions would exhaust her
strength, and before she could get far would become faint, fall down,
and beg to be carried to her bed; she would then be composed for a time,
till seized with a second paroxysm. These were repeated several times
during the day, [353]. [2300.] ► Hallucinations, [366]. ► The
sleep which he had that night was not natural; he passed the night in
some jactitation, attended with delirium and frightful dreams, [351]. ►
Exhilaration of spirits (after forty-five minutes), [351], [352].
► A sensation which he compared to
intoxication (after thirty minutes); had subsided considerably (after
sixty minutes), [351]. ► The stupor and lethargy were so great
that he went to bed at 9 o’clock (after three hours and a quarter), [351]. ►
Stupor, [352], [353], [360].
► Stupid, livid, and unable to stand,
[367]. ►
Unconscious, [355], [363], [368].
► Perfect insensibility; he could not
be roused in the slightest degree by rough handling or loud shouting
(after three hours), [361]. ► Insensible and snoring loudly (after two
hours), [354]. [2310.] ►
Deep coma, [359], [369], etc.
HEAD.
►
Vertigo (after thirty minutes), [351].
► Vertigo, much worse on trying to
walk (after two hours), [352]. ► Whenever an attempt was made to walk I
staggered a little, and felt as if intoxicated with wine (after five
hours), [352]. ► Turgescence in the head (after ten
minutes), [351]. ► Sensations of turgescence in the head
(after forty minutes), [352]. ► Pain in the head (after two hours), [353]. ►
Pain in the head and over the eyes (second morning), [352]. ► At 10
A.M. the pain in the head increased, attended with a sensation of
throbbing in the brain, which was almost intolerable (second day), [352]. ►
First proving: After preparing the 2d cent. trituration, put 1 grain on
the tongue. There were no marked symptoms through the day, except a
constant sensation of frontal headache, which I attributed to the heat
of the day, and not to the Opium. At night I slept badly, and much less
than usual. The next morning I took a new dose of the 1st trituration.
The frontal malaise increased, the head was heavy, and I experienced
loss of energy. That night I slept none at all, but there were no
disagreeable symptoms. During the whole time that I remained in bed I
had no sensation in the head, but on rising in the morning the malaise
returned. Towards 11 A.M. I was seized with vertigo, which seemed to me
the precursor of the migraine to which I had been subject for more than
twenty years. It disappeared and gave place to a headache, which passed
off in about three-quarters of an hour. After this I experienced
præcordial anxiety, with pain in the stomach, to which I had formerly
been subject with the migraine. I was soon obliged to sit down and rest,
and I found myself covered with cold sweat, excessively fatigued,
succeeded by nausea. All this, however, was nothing new to me, although
I had not suffered from so severe an attack for more than fifteen years,
and it was entirely out of proportion to the severity of the head
symptoms. These distressing sensations did not last long, and I returned
to my house and lay down and rested, [354].
EYE.
[2320.]
► Eyes red (after eighty minutes), [352]. ►
Eyes very red (after two hours), [353].
► Eyes glazed, half open, pupils
moderately dilated, and immovable (in half an hour), [371]. ► Eyes
half open and fixed, [359]. ► Eye-lids closed (after two hours), [361]. ►
Heaviness over his eyes (after thirty minutes), [351]. ►
Conjunctivæ considerably injected (after two hours), [361]. ►
Conjunctivæ insensible, [370]. ► No reflex action was excited by touching
the eye itself (after three hours), [361].
► Pupils insensible to light (after
seven hours), [363]. [2330.] ►
Pupils very much contracted and insensible to light (after one hour and
a half), [356]; (after three
hours), [361]. ► Pupils contracted to a point (after ten
hours), [353], [360], etc.
EAR.
►
Ears and back of neck livid (after two hours), [361]. ►
Tinnitus aurium (after sixty-five minutes), [351].
NOSE.
►
Nose pinched like a cadaver, and could not inspire through it (after
three hours and a half), [357].
FACE.
►
Face pale (after two hours), [353].
► Face pale and ghastly (after two
hours), [361]. ► Face suffused (after forty minutes), [352]. ►
Complexion somewhat cyanotic, [370].
► Lividity of countenance, [355]. [2340.]
► Face and lips swollen and livid
(after one hour and a half), [356].
► Countenance of leaden, deathlike
hue, [359]. ►
Livid lips, [359], [362]. ► Lips
and tips of ears livid (after three hours), [361]. ► Jaws
clenched (after two hours), [358].
MOUTH.
►
Teeth clenched (after two hours), [361].
► Tongue projected, tumefied, and
blue (after three hours), [362]. ► Tongue swollen and thrust between the
lips, and trembling (after ten hours), [360].
THROAT.
►
Spasm of the throat, [353]. ► Inability to swallow, [353].
STOMACH.
[2350.]
► No appetite (after three hours), [352]. ►
Nausea (after forty-five minutes); increased (after seventy-five
minutes), [351]. ► Slight nausea (after twenty-five
minutes), [352]. ► In the forenoon of the second day the
stomach became much affected with nausea and vomiting, everything she
swallowed was soon rejected, [353].
► In five hours had vomited two or
three times, in consequence I felt much relieved, though I continued
very stupid. The next day a deadly nausea came on me every half hour,
and a puking, at first of phlegm, but soon after a copious discharge of
bile ensued; every kind of drink was thrown off my stomach soon after it
was taken. At 1 o’clock took a draught of a mixture of a solution of
salt of tartar, with lime-juice; this, however, was puked up
immediately; it increased the nausea and sickness. I vomited at last a
dark-greenish liquid, which deposited in the bottom of the vessel a
sediment of the same color, [352].
► In the course of the second night
her stomach became much swelled with flatus, [353]. ►
Unpleasant sensation about the region of the stomach (after two hours), [353].
RESPIRATORY ORGANS.
►
Respiration slow, but not stertorous (after two hours), [358]. ► The
breathing 9 respirations per minute (after seven hours), [363]. ►
Respiration stertorous, irregular, and even sometimes interrupted for a
considerable time (after three hours), [362].
[2360.] ►
Breathing was loudly stertorous; respirations only 3 per minute (after
two hours); 5 1/2 per minute, jerking and stertorous (after three
hours), [361]. ► Respirations consisted of a series of two
or three feeble gasps, with complete intermissions of from one to three
minutes (in half an hour), [371]. ► Breathing stertorous, [369]. ►
Respiration irregular and not full, [359].
► Respirations about 4 a minute, very
feeble, [370]. ► Respiration slow and difficult (second
morning), [352]. ► Breathing extremely slow and interrupted,
stertorous, and gasping, [353]. ► Respiration feeble and irregular (after
ten hours), [360]. ► Difficulty of breathing (after two
hours), [363]. ► Respiration difficult, as if almost
suffocated (second night), [353].
HEART AND PULSE.
[2370.]
► Anxiety at the præcordia (after
two hours), [352]. ► Sense of heaviness and oppression of
heart (after eighty minutes), [352].
► Strong pulsation in the carotid
arteries (second day), [352]. ► Heart’s sounds very weak (after three
hours), [361]. ► Pulse imperceptible, the heart’s action
feebly dicrotic, irregular, with not more than 40 contractions in the
minute (in half an hour), [372]. ► Pulse very quick and irregular, and so
weak as to be with difficulty perceptible, [370]. ► Pulse
146, irregular in volume and rhythm (after two hours); 140, very feeble,
compressible, and irregular (after three hours), [361]. ► Pulse
110 and intermittent (after three hours and a half), [357]. ► Pulse
100 (after one hour and a half), [356].
► Pulse 80 on taking the drug; 84
(after five to fifteen minutes); 82 (after twenty minutes); 80 (after
twenty-five minutes); 72 (after thirty minutes); 80 (after thirty-five
minutes); 76 (after forty to sixty minutes); 80 (after sixty-five and
seventy minutes), [351]. [2380.] ►
Pulse 72, before taking; same (after five to twenty minutes); 78 (after
twenty-five and thirty minutes); 80 (after thirty-five to forty-five
minutes); 84 (after fifty and fifty-five minutes); decline in force, but
was full (after fifty minutes); 72 (after sixty minutes); 68 (after
sixty-five minutes); 76 (after seventy minutes); 80 (after seventy-five
to eighty-five minutes); 84 (after ninety minutes); 80 (after
ninety-five minutes); 76 (after one hundred to one hundred and ten
minutes); 72 (after one hundred and fifteen and one hundred and twenty
minutes); slow and full, without much tension (second morning), [352]. ►
Pulse small and frequent (second night), [353].
► Pulse feeble and quick (after two
hours), [353]. ► Pulse scarcely perceptible at the wrist, [353]. ►
Pulse slow and full (after ten hours), [360].
► Pulse almost imperceptible and also
irregular (after three hours), [362].
► Pulseless at wrists and temples
(after two hours), [358].
NECK.
►
Weakness in those muscles which support the head erect (after one
hundred minutes), [352].
EXTREMITIES.
►
Considerable rigidity of the muscles of the arms and legs (after two
hours), [361]. ► Power of muscular motion diminished;
slight pains were felt in the recti and vasti muscles of the thigh; also
pain in the arms and legs when I attempted to move them (after eighty
minutes), [352].
SUPERIOR EXTREMITIES.
[2390.] ►
Fingers and nails congested (after two hours), [361]. ► Nails
greatly congested (after three hours), [362].
► Thumbs of both hands rigidly
extended at right angles (after two hours), [361].
GENERALITIES.
►
Finding no relief I lost sixteen ounces of blood; in a short time after
I felt much better. The blood which was drawn had an inflammatory crust
formed on the surface; it coagulated very firmly, and the edges by
retracting within the bowl and turning up, exhibited the cupped
appearance; there was a large proportion of serum, [352]. ► He
was in normal health, and had fasted eighteen hours before commencing
the experiment. He had never smoked tobacco. Twenty-seven pipes,
equivalent to 107 grains of the Opium used by the Chinese, were smoked
in two hours and three-quarters, at tolerably regular intervals. The
third removed the feeling of hunger caused by his long fast, and his
pulse rose from 72 to 80. The fourth and fifth caused slight heaviness
and desire for sleep, but there was no hesitation in giving correct
answers, though he could not guide himself about the room. After the
seventh pipe the pulse fell to 70. The twelfth pipe was followed by
singing in the ears, and after the thirteenth he laughed heartily,
though without any cause that he can remember. Questions asked at this
time were answered only after a pause, and not always correctly. He had
for some time ceased to be conscious of his actions. After the
twenty-fifth pipe, questions asked in a loud tone were not answered.
After the last pipe had been smoked, he remarked, “I do not hear
well.” Forty minutes later there was a slight return of
consciousness, and he said, “I am quite bewildered. May I smoke
some more? Is the man with the pipe gone already?” Fifteen minutes
later (4.55 P.M.) he was able to go home, and then retired to bed. He
woke next morning at 3 A.M., and made a hearty meal, after his fast of
thirty-three hours. During the next day he felt as if he had bees in a
great hollow in his head, as well as a slight headache. The organs of
locomotion were first affected, next came sight and hearing, but Herr
Maclay is very positive that there were no dreams, hallucinations, or
visions of any sort whatever, [373].
► Spasms of the muscles, [357]. ►
Twitching of the tendons (after ten hours), [360]. ►
Violent convulsions, the face, neck, and extremities becoming turgid,
livid, and cold, [366]. ► Frequent fearful spasms; eyes shut,
pupils closely contracted, and breathing stertorous. In the interval
between the spasm, he was perfectly limp, and had no control over is
extremities, and his head drooped forward or fell backward in a heavy,
ungovernable way, [364]. ► Relaxation in the muscular system (after
one hundred minutes), [352]. [2400.] ► Muscular system entirely flaccid, [359]. ►
Very much agitated, frequently rising from the bed, and walking with
haste across the floor (after two hours), [353].
► Began to feel languid (after fifty
minutes), [352]. ► Weak and languid (second day), [353]. ►
Considerable debility (after three hours), [352]. ►
Debility was great, and such languor and lassitude that I could scarcely
walk across the room (second morning), [352].
► Tendency to syncope (second day), [352]. ►
No sensibility to external impressions, [359].
► Complete anæsthesia and muscular
relaxation (in half an hour), [371].
SKIN.
►
Skin dry (after three hours), [361].
[2410.] ►
The skin appears more full, as if elevated or swollen, particularly on
the face and hands (after two hours), [352].
► About noon of the second day
erysipelas of the face began to be developed; and extended from the face
to the head quite rapidly, [358].
SLEEP.
►
Drowsiness (after two hours), [352],
[366]. ►
While an emetic of Sulphate of zinc was operating, there was a great
propensity to sleep, but this was of short duration; she did not sleep
till some time in the night ensuing, which was seventeen hours after the
Opium was taken; she ten slept four hours, after this was much relieved
and tranquil for several hours, [353].
► Profound sleep, from which it could
not be aroused (after two hours), [358].
FEVER.
►
Skin cold (after three hours), [362].
► Slight rigors were frequent (second
day), [352]. ►
Face and extremities cold and livid (in half an hour), [371]. ► Skin
cold and moist, [370]. ► Extremities cold, [353], [357],
etc. [2420.] ►
Extremities cold and clammy (after one hour and half), [356]. ►
Surface hot (after two hours), [358].
► Heat on the skin, particularly of
the face (after ten minutes), [351].
► Covered with cold clammy sweat
(after three hours and a half), [357].
► Slight perspiration on forehead, of
a cold, clammy character (after two hours), [361].® 2000
Article