I say "the equivalent of 18 grains of morphia," because although the
majorify of _habitués_ use that principle of opium as their favorite
form, there are some who after many years' use of the drug still
adhere to crude gum opium or laudanum. The portability and ease of
exhibition which belong to morphia--the fact that it fails to sicken
some persons in whom any other opiate produces violent nausea--its
usual certainty, rapidity, and uniformity of action, and the ability
which it possesses to produce the characteristic effects of the
narcotic after other preparations have become comparatively inert,
make it the most general form in use among opium-eaters of long
standing. Still, bearing in mind the wonderful complexity of opium
(_vide_ "What Shall They Do to be Saved?") and the equally marvellous
diversity in the manner in which it affects different people, we can
not wonder at the fact that some of its victims require for their
desired effect either the crude drug or other preparations containing
its principles entire. Morphia is by far the most important of these
principles, and more nearly than any one stands typical of them
all. Still, it is easy to conceive how certain constitutions may
respond more sympathetically to the complex agent of Nature's
compounding than to any one of its constituents. [Footnote: In some
cases, especially of shorter standing, codeia may be used as the form
of opiate to diminish on. In any case its employment is worth trying,
for it possesses much of the pain-controlling efficiency of opium and
morphia, with less of their congestive action upon the brain.
Practically it may be treated in such an experiment as the equivalent
of opium; not that it at all represents all the drug's operations, but
that where crude opium has been the form in use, codeia may be
substituted grain for grain. Some patiets find it quite valueless as
a substitute, but there is always a chance of its proving adequate.
When tried, the best form is a solution similar to Magendie's, but
replacing one grain of morphia by six of codeia.] We may therefore
find it necessary to carry on our reformatory process upan laudanum or
M'Munn's Elixir, but by far the larger number of cases will do better
by being put instantly upon a regimen of Magendie's Solution of
Morphia. The formula for this preparation is:
Rx
Morph. Sulph. . . . . . . . . . . . grs. xvi.
Aqua Destill. . . . . . . . . . . . ounce j
Elix. Vitrioli. . . . . . . . . . . quant. suff.
Mr. Edgerton has used 18 grains of morphia per diem. His equivalent in
Magendie's Solution will be 9 fluid drachms.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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