Opium smoked is more qnickly ab ,(Tbed than opium eaten, but it is less harmful, as only a comparatively limited Tiantity can be inhaled at a time. With the latter mode of use there is greater (Thorder of digestion. Opium drunk in a liquid form may be classed alongside r.pium taken as a solid. The speedier absr.rption of laudanum is more than counterbalanced by the smaller quantity that can be taken on account of the larger bulk. The hypodermic injection r I murphine i5, however, the most swift and the most potent of all the methods of administration. The effect is almost immediate. The simplicity, ease, and celerity with which the narcotic effect can be secured have combined to make this subcutaneous process of self-admin istration peculiarly popular and seduc tive.
No one can describe the torture experi enced by opium inebriates on the failure of the supply of a fresh dose at the ac customed time. While in this fatuous, listless, irritable condition, the patient will at once become lively, clear-headed, and brilliant on the exhibition of a suffi cient dose. This depraved physical state is a pathological condition: a physical depression which clamors for a renewal of the potion as soon as the pleasurable effects of the preceding dose have dis appeared.
Alcohol infuriates many of its users. Opium, on the contrary, while its effects are somewhat varied, comparatively rarely hurries its devotees into a thou sand extravagances, eccentricities, and misdeeds. In alcoholic public-houses are frequently to be heard heated argu ments and disturbances. In opium-dens there is usually an atmosphere of quiet and repose. Withal, however, opium in some cases begets foolish and fatuous acts. On the inhabitants of the Malay peninsula, as on a few other peoples, opium seems to have sometimes an ex citable effect. A. large dose will affect some Malays so that they will "run amok," attacking everyone in their way.
The alcohol-inebriate is often notori ously untruthful, the opium. inebriate only comparatively so. He usually pleads guilty if accused of the habit, and readily tells you about it, although some opiists, like many alcoholics, will deny that they ever touch the druEf, though at that very moment they are consuming it.
The testimony on oath of the habitual morphine-taker is worthy of eiiscredit in legal matters. Henry Freeman Walker (Nled. Rec., .Nov. 16, '95).
Patients suffering from morphinism are liars. They become slovenly, dirty, and untidy. Physically, they are thin, sal low, and am:elide; they look prematurely old, their hair falls out, their teeth decay, their nails become brittle, and they suffer from dyspepsia and great constipation. The mouth is dry and the
pupils are contracted. Hale White (Ouy's Hosp. Gaz., Mar. 19, '9S).
The opium-drunkard is, on the whole, more of a slave than the ard. It is more difficult to keep within limited indulgence with opium, so that "moderate" or "restricted" opium con sumption is very much more difficult of accomplishment than "moderate" or "re stricted" drinking of alcohol intoxicants.
It must not, however, be supposed that a continued moderate or restricted sumption of opium is impossible. In opium-using countries the majority are able to limit the quantity which they consume.
Many male opium-inebriates are im potent, the capacity returning On tinuance of the narcotic habit. To a less extent an allied phenomenon is exhibited in females, failure of conception fre quently taking place after the habit has been fairly launched. Amenorrhoea and irregular menstruation are common.
Menstruation seriously interfered with or entirely suppressed in nearly all cases of the morphine habit. Sherman (Med. World, Nov. 8, '88).
Cessation of menstruation in cases of insanity treated by morphine injections for a continuous period, with return of menstruation npon cessation of the mor Phine. Roller (Berliner klin. Woch., Nov. 26, '88).
:Morphine does not abolish the sexual appetite in women. Offspring are gener ally born with congenital heart disease. Hoppe] (Med. and Surg. Reporter, Sept. 10, '92).
Morphine produces impotence in the male and amenorrlicea in the female. Editorial (Med. Rec.; Bull. of Pharm., June, '97).
The effect of long-continued opiism is seen rather in nervous disquietude and excitability, leading to speculation and gambling. There is frequently associ ated immorality, the latter vice being en couraged for purposes of gain by many keepers of these dens. There is an erotic influence in many cases during the earlier stages. Murder has been committed in the ungovernable fury of disappointed narcotic lewdness.
Simple morphinism rarely causes a state of mental alienation sufficient to allow a plea of irresponsibility. It never produces irresistible impulse, but in the more profound disturbance, known as morphinomania, irresistible impulse and other pronounced mental disturbances may occur. Regnier (Essai Crit. sur l'Intox. Chron. par la Morphine et sur ses Diverses Formes, '90).