Experiments and observations on the means of counteracting the deleterious effects of opium : and on the method of cure of the disease resulting therefrom / by Franklin Scott.

  • Scott, Franklin.
Date:
1803
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Experiments and observations on the means of counteracting the deleterious effects of opium : and on the method of cure of the disease resulting therefrom / by Franklin Scott. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the National Library of Medicine (U.S.), through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the National Library of Medicine (U.S.)

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    of water, and the other two in another. To the first I gave Opium in the proportion of one grain to the ounce of water in which they swam; the Opium was rubbed down and diffused through the water of one bowl; the others were left as a standard. As soon as they were put in the Aq. Sol. of Opium, they respired very quick, flirted about, and threw it out of their mouths in blubbers, upon the surface of the fluid. In fifteen minutes they began to respire more slowly; they respired only twelve times a minute, and it was performed by a sudden effort. The standard fish respired forty-eight times a minute, and with regularity. Once in ten or eleven minutes those in the Aq. Sol. of Opium would flirt about, they seemed to be much dissatisfied with their situation: indeed one of them jumped out of the bowl. In one hour, they respired eight times a minute, were dull and languid. In one hour and a half, respired only six times a minute. In two hours, respired only once or twice in ten or fifteen minutes, and they were very seldom seen to move their bodies. The standard fish continued to respire as often as at first, and were as lively as usual; they were often compared with those in the aqueous solution of Opium, which now shewed very few signs of life. In three hours after the immersion, they were torpid, and very limber, and soon became dead to all appearance. I then placed them in a bowl of fresh river water, to see if they would recover, but they did not. The standard fish lived ten or twelve hours after the others were dead. I dissected the two destroyed by Opium; and none of the solution of it was to be seen in the stomach or intestines. I then dissected one of the standard fish, and upon a comparison of them, with those which died of the effects of the Opium, I could not perceive any morbid ap- pearances in the latter. CASE I. This case contains an account of the morbid appearan- ces, on the dissection of a woman, who died in consequence