By carefully conducted experiments on animals (pregnant dogs and rabbits), Levenstein found that the continued use of morphia invariably produced abortion, the fœtus being born dead.
With the cessation of the menses the breasts usually dwindle in size, and the voice attains a more masculine tone.
In man the first indication of an effect on the sexual organs is increased desire; this, however, giving way sooner or later to partial or total impotence. The fact, noted by Levenstein, regarding the rarity of conception and parturition in the wives of habituès, has already been spoken of. If the amount of opium or morphine used is small, impotence may not come for a number of years. The power of partial or full erection, without emission, is preserved by some. In those cases where there is inability to impregnate the female, there undoubtedly exists a deterioration of the functional power of the testes. In one case which I saw the testicles were markedly atrophied. In two cases I was fortunate to be able to examine the seminal fluid, a few days after the habit had been broken. These patients, as is usual on recovery, were troubled with erections and nocturnal emissions. In both instances the zoosperms were small, and present in less than the normal quantity. In one case, where it was possible, owing to the patient’s having been previously instructed, I was able to examine this fluid once or twice weekly for nearly two months. Each succeeding examination showed a larger number of zoosperms, each sample apparently better developed than the preceding.
Even large doses sometimes fail to produce impotence. One young man, twenty-five years of age, who has been taking, subcutaneously, ten grains of morphia, for over three years, is a confirmed masturbator, and seems to have frequent emissions.
CHAPTER IV.
GENERAL SYMPTOMS CLASSIFIED AND ANALYZED.
THE URINARY ORGANS.
Albuminuria, usually temporary, is not an uncommon result of the prolonged use of morphia. The deposit, after applying heat and nitric acid, may vary from one-twentieth to one-seventieth per cent. of bulk. In some cases it comes and goes, one day appearing as a slight, hazy cloud, and on another as a measurable deposit. Albuminuria and diabetes are more commonly found in patients who use the drug hypodermically. In some rare instances casts, epithelial, granular, hyaline and bloody, are to be found in the urine, as also free renal cells, apparently healthy. This was the case with the literary gentlemen spoken of in the second chapter. This does not indicate organic disease of the kidney, for after the withdrawal of the drug the albumen and casts gradually disappear.
The specific gravity of the urine varies according to the bodily condition of the patient, the weather and the amount of fluid ingesta used. If sugar is present the gravity is high; if albumen, usually low. In nervous and hysterical women there is a low gravity with an excess of the alkaline phosphates. In nearly all cases the uric acid is increased after the drug has been used for a time, the urea is very materially diminished, due probably to the small amount of food taken, the congested and deranged condition of the liver, and the impeded tissue metamorphosis. The chlorides are always slightly, sometimes markedly, diminished in amount.