Pois.—Symptoms. Headache; drowsiness; stupor; frightful reveries; vertigo; contracted pupil (generally); scanty urine; pruritus or dry itching of the skin, often accompanied by a papular eruption; thirst; dryness of mouth and throat; weak and low pulse; vomiting; respiration, generally, natural. Sometimes the drowsiness or sleep is calm and peaceful.—Ant., &c. Vomiting must be induced as soon as possible, by means of a strong emetic and tickling the fauces. If this does not succeed, the stomach-pump should be applied. The emetic may consist of a 1⁄2 dr. of sulphate of zinc dissolved in 1⁄2 pint of warm water, of which one third should be taken at once, and the remainder at the rate of a wine-glassful every 5 or 10 minutes, until vomiting commences. When there is much drowsiness or stupor, 1 or 2 fl. dr. of tincture of capsicum will be found a useful addition; or one of the formulæ for emetic draughts given at page 588 (especially No. 7) may be taken instead. Infusion of galls, cinchona, or oak-bark, should be freely administered before the emetic, and water soured with vinegar and lemon-juice, after the stomach has been well cleared out. To rouse the system, spirit-and-water or strong coffee may be given. To keep the sufferer awake, rough friction should be applied to the skin, an upright posture preserved, and walking exercise enforced, if necessary. When this is ineffectual, cold water may be dashed over the chest, head, and spine, or mild shocks of electricity may be had recourse to. To allow the sufferer to sleep is to abandon him to destruction. Bleeding may be subsequently necessary in plethoric habits, or in threatened congestion. The costiveness that accompanies convalescence may be best met by aromatic aperients; and the general tone of the habit restored by stimulating tonics and the shower bath. The smallest fatal dose of opium in the
case of an adult within our recollection was 41⁄2 gr. Children are much more susceptible of the action of opium than of other medicines, and hence the dose of it for them must be diminished considerably below that indicated by the common method of calculation depending on the age. See Doses, &c.
Concluding Remarks. Opium is a very complicated substance, and contains a number of alkaloids and other proximate vegetable principles, besides a certain portion of saline matter. The substances already detected in it are caoutchouc, codein, fatty matter, lignin, meconic acid, meconia, morphia, narceia, narcotia, odorous matter, opiania, papaveria, pseudomorphia (?), porphyroxin, resin, saline matter, &c. It is doubtful, however, whether some of these substances are not generated from other principles existing in opium during the processes adopted to obtain them.
According to Mulder, 100 parts of ordinary Smyrna opium contain—
| Morphia | 10·842 |
| Codeia | ·678 |
| Narcotia | 6·808 |
| Narceia | 0·662 |
| Meconia | ·804 |
| Meconic acid | 5·154 |
| Resin | 3·582 |
| Gummy matter | 26·242 |
| Mucus | 19·086 |
| Fatty matter | 2·166 |
| Caoutchouc | 6·012 |
| Water | 9·846 |
| Matter undetermined and loss | 2·118 |
| ———— | |
| 100· |
The sp. gr. of Smyrna opium is 1·336.
The following chart, showing the natural alkaloids of opium and a few of their artificial derivatives, is taken from the ‘Pharmacographia’ of Messrs Flückiger and Hanbury:
—
| C. | H. | N. | O. | ||
| Discovered by Wöhler, 1844 | Cotarnine Formed by oxidising narcotine, soluble in water. | 12 | 13 | 1 | 3 |
| Hesse, 1871 | 1. Hydrocotarnine Crystallisable, alkaline, volatile at 100°. | 12 | 15 | 1 | 3 |
| Matthiesen and Wright, 1869 | Apormorphine From morphine by hydrochloric acid, colourless, amorphous, turning green by exposure to air, emetic. | 17 | 17 | 1 | 2 |
| Wright, 1871 | Desoxymorphine | 17 | 19 | 1 | 2 |
| Sertürner, 1816 | 2. Morphine Crystallisable, alkaline, levogyre. | 17 | 19 | 1 | 3 |
| Pelletier and Thibouméry, 1835 | 3. Pseudomorphine Crystallises with H2O, does not unite even with acetic acid. | 17 | 19 | 1 | 4 |
| Discovered by Matthiesen and Burnside, 1871 | Apocodeine From codeine by chloride of zinc; amorphous, emetic. | 18 | 19 | 1 | 2 |
| Wright, 1871 | Desoxycodeine | 18 | 21 | 1 | 2 |
| Robiquet, 1832 | 4. Codeine Crystallisable, alkaline, soluble in water. | 18 | 21 | 1 | 3 |
| Matthiesen and Foster, 1868 | Nornarcotine | 19 | 17 | 1 | 7 |
| Thibouméry, 1835 | 5. Thebaine Crystallisable, alkaline, isomeric with buxine. | 19 | 21 | 1 | 3 |
| Hesse, 1870 | Thebenine | 19 | 21 | 1 | 3 |
| Hesse, 1870 | Thebarcine From Thebaine or Thebenine by hydrochloric acid. | 19 | 21 | 1 | 3 |
| Hesse, 1871 | 6. Protopine Crystallisable, alkaline. | 20 | 19 | 1 | 5 |
| Matthiesen and Foster, 1868 | Methylnornarcotine | 20 | 19 | 1 | 7 |
| Hesse, 1871 | Deuteropine Not yet isolated. | 20 | 21 | 1 | 5 |
| Hesse, 1870 | 7. Laudanine An alkaloid, which, as well as its salts, forms large crystals; turns orange by hydrochloric acid. | 20 | 25 | 1 | 4 |
| Hesse, 1870 | 8. Codamine Crystallisable, alkaline, can be sublimed; becomes green by nitric acid. | 20 | 25 | 1 | 4 |
| Merck, 1848 | 9. Papaverine Crystallisable, also its hydrochlorate; sulphate in sulphuric acid precipitated by water. | 21 | 21 | 1 | 4 |
| Hesse, 1865 | 10. Rhœadine Crystallisable, not distinctly alkaline, can be sublimed; occurs also in Papaver Rhœas. | 21 | 21 | 1 | 6 |
| Hesse, 1865 | Rhœagenine From rhœadine, crystallisable, alkaline. | 21 | 21 | 1 | 6 |
| Armstrong, 1871 | Dimethylnornarcotine | 21 | 21 | 1 | 7 |
| Hesse, 1870 | 11. Meconidine Amorphous, alkaline, melts at 58°, not stable, the salts also easily altered. | 21 | 23 | 1 | 4 |
| T. and H. Smith, 1864 | 12. Cryptopine Crystallisable, alkaline, salts tend to gelatinise, hydrochlorate crystallises in tufts. | 21 | 23 | 1 | 5 |
| Hesse, 1871 | 13. Laudanosine Crystallisable, alkaline. | 21 | 27 | 1 | 4 |
| Derosne, 1803 | 14. Narcotine Crystallisable, not alkaline, salts not stable. | 22 | 23 | 1 | 7 |
| Hesse, 1870 | 15. Lanthopine Microscopic crystals, not alkaline, sparingly soluble in hot or cold spirit of wine, ether or benzol. | 23 | 25 | 1 | 4 |
| Pelletier, 1832 | 16. Narceine Crystallisable (as a hydrate), readily soluble in boiling water, or in alkalies, levogyre. | 23 | 29 | 1 | 9 |
⁂ The following preparations, once famous, are now nearly obsolete in this country. Those that are made with cold water or by fermentation are supposed to be milder than crude opium, and in this respect to be similar to ‘BLACK DROP,’