Opium is undoubtedly the most valuable remedy of the whole materia medica. " For other medicines," says Dr. Pereira, " we have one or more substitutes; but for opium, none—at least in the large majority of cases in %vhich its peculiar and beneficial influence is required." We not only exhibit it to mitigate pain, to allay spasm, to promote sleep, to relieve nervous restlessness, to produce perspiration, and to check profuse discharges front the bronchial tubes and intestinal canal; but we also find it capable of relieving some diseases in which none of the above indications can be always distinctly perceived. In combination with tartar emetic, it has been strongly recommended in fever with much cerebral disturbance; in association with calomel, it is the most trustworthy remedy iu cases of inflammation of membranous parts; in insanity, its value cannot be overesti mated; it is the remedy chiefly trusted to in delirium tremens; it is more serviceable titan any other medicine in diabetes; and to conclude with a more common and less serious affection, its efficiency, when administered in small doses (as ten or fifteen drops of laudanum three times a day), in promoting the healing of ulcers in which granulation proceeds too slowly, is very marked.
In addition to the solution of muriat of morphia (q.v.) which, on the whole, is the best preparation of opium for internal use in the majority of cases, the British pharma copoeia contains an opium pill (containing one part of opium in five of the pill); a pill of lead and opium (chiefly used in pulmonary hemorrhage): an aromatic powder of chalk and opium (containing one part of opium in forty of the powder); powder of ipeetteuan and opium (or Dover's powder [q.v.], containing one part of opium in ten of the pow
der); powder of kino and opium (containing one part of opium iu twenty of the powder, and, like the aromatic powder, chiefly used in diarrhea); tincture (see LatroAxum), and camphorated tincture of opium (commonly known as paragoric elixir, and much used in chronic two grains of opium in the fluid ounce); in addition to an enema; a wine (used chiefly as a local application to the eye in cases of ophthalmia): an ointment of galls and opium (used as an external application to piles); and a liniment and a plaster, which are applied to remove local superficial pains. • In a case of poisoning by opium, the first and most essential point is the evacuation of the contents of the stomach. The stomach-pump, if it can be procured, should be employed, and strong coffee should then be pumped into the stomach after the removal of its contents. The next best remedy is an emetic of sulphate of zinc (about a scruple), and if this is not at hand, a dessert-spoonful of flour of mustard, stirred up in a tumbler of warm water, will usually produce the desired effect. The patient must, if possible, be prevented from falling asleep, and for this purpose he should be kept constantly walking between two strong men, while a third person in the rear should, at short inter vals, flick him sharply with a rough wet towel, or (if procurable) a good birch rod. Cold water should also be occasionally dashed over the head and chest. In a few appar ently hopeless cases, death has been averted by artificial respiration, and by the applica tion of electro-magnetism.