(130) _Lib._ [smudge]. Εννέα γράμματ᾽ ἔχω, τετρασυλλαβός είμι, νόει με. Αἱ τρεῖς αἱ πρῶται δύο γράμματ᾽ ἔχουσιν ἐκάση, Η λοιπὴ δὲ τὰ λοιπὰ, καὶ εἰσὶν ἄφωνα τά πέντε. Τοῦ παντός δ᾽ ἀριθμοῦ ἑκατοντάδες εἰσὶ δὶς ὀκτω, Καὶ τρεῖς τρὶς δεκάδες. (131) Nat. Hist. _l. 33. c. 4._ (132) _Cours de Chymie_, Part 1. Chap. 10. (133) _Lemery_, ibid. (134) _Vid. Eman. Konig Regn. Mineral._ and _Boyle_ History of Mineral Waters. (135) _Grew_ of Mixture, _pag. m._ 246. (136) _Cicut. aquat._ pag. 274. _& seq._ (137) _Incertezza de Medicament_, p. m. 82. (138) _Epistol._ 68. (139) Observation 66. (140) _De Peste_, Histor. 99. (141) _De Peste Londinens._ p. 239. (142) _A. Deusingius de Peste_, Part 4. Sect. 3. c. 3. (143) _Vide_ Wepfer, _Pag. 60._ (144) _Observat. Centur._ 1. Obs. 43. (145) Pag. 176. _seq._ (146) _Hist. Plant._ l. 9. c. 16. ESSAY IV. OF OPIUM. The Ancients having Experienced that _Opium_ would oftentimes Kill, though taken in no large quantity, ranked It with _Poisons_, and gave It the first place among Those, which from their Stupefying Quality They call’d _Narcotic_. True indeed it is, that We do every Day find This to be, in a small Dose, one of the most Noble Remedies in the World. But it is not worth the while to engage in the Controversie warmly debated by some _Authors_, how far _Poisons_ are Medicinal; since it is notorious enough, that Medicines do sometimes prove _Poisonous_. And take the Matter as We please, it may serve to very good Purposes to understand the manner of Operation of so Celebrated a _Drug_, and help Us in a great Measure to ascertain Its Use in different Cases, if we are beforehand rightly apprised of Its Nature and Way of Acting. In order hereunto, it is necessary, besides some other _Præcognita_, since one of the chief Virtues of this Medicine Is _Hypnotic_, to Define distinctly what _Sleep_ is, or rather, (to avoid Confusion and Disputes about Words) what Difference there is between an Animal Body when _asleep_ and when _awake_. For I suppose the _History_, _Manner of Preparing_, &c. of _Opium_, to be already sufficiently known. First then, There is no One but knows that in _Sleep_ there is a Cessation from Action. When _Waking_, We Walk, Discourse, Move this or that Limb, _&c._ but in natural and undisturbed _Rest_ there is nothing of all These; that is, whereas being awake, We do perform several Motions by the _voluntary_ Contraction of our Muscles; when asleep, those Muscles only are Contracted, whose Action is in a manner _Involuntary_, or to which the Mind has always so constantly determin’d the Spirits, that It does it by a _Habit_, without the Intervention of the Reasoning Faculty; such are _Those_ of the Heart and Breast.