Pharmacologia, or, The history of medicinal substances : in order to enable the practitioner to prescribe them with efficacy, and elegance, and to dispense them with accuracy / by John Ayrton Paris.

  • Paris, John Ayrton, 1785-1856.
Date:
1812
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Pharmacologia, or, The history of medicinal substances : in order to enable the practitioner to prescribe them with efficacy, and elegance, and to dispense them with accuracy / by John Ayrton Paris. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The University of Glasgow Library. The original may be consulted at The University of Glasgow Library.

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    crease in an equal ratio with its close, whereas the dose of a remedy very often alone determines its specific action, Medicines,'* says Linnajus, *' differ from poisons, not in their nature, but their dose. Thus, five grains of camphor act as a mild sedative, and slight diaphoretic, but twenty grains induce nausea, and act as a stimulant. So again, opium, in too large doses, instead of promoting, pievents sleep, and rather stimulates the bowels than acts as a narcotic. The operation of medicines is influenced by certain general circumstances, which the practi- tioner should always keep in mind when he appor- tions their dose, e. g. ^ge,^ Sex, Temperament, Ha- bit, and Disease. Women'in general require smaller doses than men. Habit, or the protracted use of a medicine generally diminishes its power, although saline cathartics afi'ord an exception to the law ;* for, when long continued, their activity is proportion- * The operation of Cheltenham waters, affords a familiar Illustration of this fact.