stupor, from which he could be roused without particular difficulty. The stomach-pump brought away a fluid which had not any odour of opium; powerful stimulants were given, such as ether, ammonia and brandy; and he was kept constantly walking between two men. In an hour and a half, when sensibility had been materially restored, his head suddenly dropped down upon his breast, and he fell down dead. The sinuses and veins of the brain were turgid, and a moderately thick layer of blood was effused over the arachnoid membrane.[1]—Under the same head must be arranged the following extraordinary case related by Pyl. That author admits it as one of simple poisoning, with a complete remission of the symptoms for several days. But the possibility of such a remission must be received with great hesitation. It is well known that most of the symptoms may be dispelled by vigorous treatment, and the patient nevertheless relapse immediately if left to himself, and even die. This is acknowledged on all hands. Pyl, however, admits the possibility of a much more complete and longer interval. His case is shortly as follows. A man who had taken a large quantity of opium, and became very dangerously ill, was made to vomit in twelve hours, and regained his senses completely. The bowels continued obstinately costive; but he had for some days no other symptom referrible to the poison; when at length the whole body became gradually palsied and stiff, and he died on the tenth day. No importance can be attached to a solitary case differing so widely from every other. The only way in which opium could cause death in such a manner, must be by calling forth some disposition to natural disease. Pyl's case was probably one of supervening ramollissement, or inflammation of the substance of the brain.[2]
Notwithstanding the purely narcotic or nervous symptoms, which opium produces in a vast proportion of instances, there is no doubt that it also excites in a few rare cases those of irritation. Thus, although it generally constipates the bowels, it has been known to induce diarrhœa or colic in particular constitutions. In the first volume of the Medical Communications, it is observed by Michaëlis that both diarrhœa and diuresis may be produced by it. The soldier, whose case was quoted as having been accompanied with convulsions, had acute pain in the stomach for some time after swallowing the poison; and in the case just quoted from Corvisart's Journal, the accession of somnolency was attended with excruciating pain of two days' duration.
Another and more singular anomaly is the spontaneous occurrence of vomiting. Sometimes a little vomiting immediately succeeds the taking of the poison. This may not interrupt, however, the progress of the symptoms;[3] but more commonly it is the means of saving the person's life, as in a striking case described by Petit of an English officer,[4] who, in consequence of vomiting immediately after taking two ounces of laudanum, had only moderate somnolency. At
