■2'JO

Materia Medica.

PART IT,

valuable; but its use is contra-indicated in this class of diseaseswhen the fever is inflammatory.

In the haemorrhagiai it is useful when the discharge ariseschiefly from an increased degree of irritability, and where thepulse, instead of being strong and full, is small, quick, and in-termitting. Hence its efficacy in the floodings of weakenedhabits after abortions and in phthisical haemoptysis. It has beenrecommended also after blood-letting, in the haemoptysis andhaematemesis of the later months of pregnancy.

Although opiates are hurtful at first, and check expectora-tion in catarrh, yet when the cough remains obstinate theirgood effects are undoubted; and in the contagious catarrh orinfluenza, an opiate at bed-time is requisite for quieting thecough in every stage of the disorder. In dysentery, also, thebenefit to be derived from opium depends very much on thebowels having been previously well cleared, in which case itallays the tormina and tenesmus; and the same remark appliesto diarrhoea.

But the spasmodic and convulsive diseases are those in whichopium is most evidently useful. In tetanus, although it doesnot always succeed, even when given in the largest doses, yet,many cases have occurred in which the continued exhibitionof large doses has overcome the spasm, and cured the disease;particularly when it has been judiciously combined with cathar-tics : often, however, very large quantities of the remedy havebeen taken without any sensible effect on the state of the habit,and without relieving the disorder; and the same is the case inhydrophobia, in which 180 grains of solid opium have beentaken in the space of twelve hours without producing any ap-parent effect. It has been found beneficial in chorea; but asin tetanus, it is necessary to precede its use by strong cathar-tics, or at least to give it in combination with these. 1 In epi-lepsy it proves useful when given in combination with musk; andit has been recommended by highly respectable authority z ineclampsia, but its efficacy in this complaint is rather doubtful.In spasmodic asthma it shortens the paroxysms, abates the vi-olence of the cough in pertussis, when given after the primaryfever subsides; and is more especially useful in pyrosis andcholera than any other medicine. Solid opium, either aloneor united with camphor, is the most effectual remedy for check-ing obstinate vomiting proceeding from a morbid irritabilityof the stomach. In colic and ileus it is given in combinationwith laxatives, and allays the spasm and pain; nor is it less

1 Observations on the Administration and Utility of Purgative Medidr.es, ^(c. 86,.'■ Deiiman. Bland.