The first patient continued cataleptic till one, a.m., when consciousness and voluntary motion quickly returned, and by two, a.m., he was exactly in the same state as the second patient.
The third man experienced no effect whatever, and on further inquiry it was found that he was habituated to the use of gunjah in the pipe.
On the following day it gave me much pleasure to find that both the individuals above mentioned were not only uninjured by the narcotic, but much relieved of their rheumatism; they were discharged quite cured in three days after.
The fourth case of trial was an old muscular cooley, a rheumatic malingerer, and to him half a grain of hemp resin was given in a little spirit. The first day’s report will suffice for all:—In two hours the old gentleman became talkative and musical, told several stories, and sang songs to a circle of highly delighted auditors, ate the dinners of two persons subscribed for him in the ward, sought also for other luxuries we can scarcely venture to allude to—and finally fell soundly asleep, and so continued till the following morning. On the noon-day visit, he expressed himself free from headache or any other unpleasant sequel, and begged hard for a repetition of the medicine, in which he was indulged for a few days and then discharged.
In several cases of acute and chronic rheumatism admitted about this time, half-grain doses of the resin were given, with closely analogous effects; alleviation of pain in most, remarkable increase of appetite in all, unequivocal aphrodisia, and great mental cheerfulness. In no one case did these effects proceed to delirium, or was there any tendency to quarrelling. The disposition developed was uniform in all, and in none was headache or sickness of stomach a sequel of the excitement.
Case of Hydrophobia.
A case now occurred in which the influence of a narcotic, capable either of cheering or of inducing harmless insensibility, would be fraught with blessings to the wretched patient.
On the 22nd November, at eight, a.m., a note in English was handed to me by my servant, entreating my assistance for the Hakim Abdullah, then at my gate, who had been bitten by a rabid dog three weeks before, and who feared that the miserable consequences of the bite already had commenced. I found the poor man in a carriage; he was perfectly composed, though quite convinced of the desperate nature of his case. He told me that the evening before, on passing near a tank, he started in alarm, and since then was unable to swallow liquid. His eye was restless, suspicious, and wild; his features anxious; his pulse 125; his skin bedewed with cold moisture; he stated nevertheless that he wished for food and felt well. A small red and painful cicatrix existed on the left fore-arm.
He was immediately removed to the hospital, where I accompanied him. By his own desire water was brought in a metallic vessel, which he grasped, and brought near his lips; never can I forget the indescribable horrors of the paroxysm which ensued. It abated in about three minutes, and morbid thirst still goading the unhappy man, he besought his servant to apply a moistened cloth to his lips. Intelligent and brave, he determinately awaited the contact of the cloth, and for a few seconds, though in appalling agony, permitted some drops to trickle on his tongue; but then ensued a second struggle, which, with a due share of the callousness of my profession, I could not stand by to contemplate.
Two grains of hemp resin in a soft pillular mass were ordered every hour; after the third dose, he stated that he felt commencing intoxication; he now chatted cheerfully on his case, and displayed great intelligence and experience in the treatment of the very disease with which he was visited. He talked calmly of drinking, but said it was in vain to try—but he could suck an orange; this was brought to him, and he succeeded in swallowing the juice without any difficulty.