An experimental research on the antagonism between the actions of physostigma and atropia / by Thomas R. Fraser.

  • Fraser Thomas R. (Thomas Richard), Sir, 1841-1920.
Date:
1872
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Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: An experimental research on the antagonism between the actions of physostigma and atropia / by Thomas R. Fraser. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh. The original may be consulted at the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh.

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    of active substances are but few in number, while the evidence on which these examples have been founded is generally imperfect. Between Opiwn and Belladonna, Hyoscyamus or Stramonium.—Among the various instances in which a general antagonism has been stated to exist between the actions of active substances, in the sense that the lethal effect of the one substance is capable of l^eing prevented by the physiological action of the other, the most familiarly known is that where the substances are, on the one hand, opium, and, on the other, belladonna, hyoscyamus, or stramonium. The existence of a belief in the power of belladonna to counteract the general physiological action of opium, may be referred to so early a date as the year 1570, when it was recorded by Petro Pena and Mathia de Lobel that certain Italian peddlers gained much notoriety by employing the root of the belladonna j)lant to quench thirst, and by administering opiates to remedy the evil effects that were occa- sionally produced thereby. In 1661, HoRSTius reported a case in which tlie injurious effects of a large dose of the inspissated juice of belladonna were apparently removed by the use of opium.t Soon afterwards, Faber related a somewhat similar experience ;J and, in 1766, Boucher, of Lille, jDubhshed five cases of poisoning by belladonna berries, in two of which opium was administered as an antidote. § At the commencement of the present century, Joseph Lippi wrote an inaugural dissertation, De veneficio baccis belladonnse producto atque opii in eo usu, in which were recorded, according to Giacomini, pleusieurs gu^risons a I'aide de laudanum de Sydenham.|| Giacomini himself exjDresses a favourable opinion regarding the beneficial effects of oj)ium in poisoning by bella- donna ; and mentions, further, that the Italians were accustomed to administer opium to remove the stupor and convulsions that follow excessive doses of hyoscyamus and stramonium. Within more recent times, many modern authors, as Angelo Poma,1[ Anderson,CAziN,tt Benjamin BELL,:j:| Behier,§§ LEE,|j|l NoRRis,1f'^ and Constantin Paul,''' have published evidence that appears to favour a belief in the existence of this antagonism. This evidence has been derived from cases of poisoning in man by opium,in which belladonna, hyoscyamus, * Stirpium Adversaria Nova, authoribus Petro Pena et Mathia de Lobei,, Medicis. Londini, 1570, p. 103. (Quoted by Dr Norris, The American Journal of the Medical Sciences, vol. xliv 1862, p. 399.) + Opera Medica. \ Strychnomania, 1677. § Journal de Medecine, Cliirurgie et Pliarmacie, etc., tome xxiv. 1776, pp. 310-332. II Traite philosophique et experimental de ]\latiere Medicale et Therapeutique, traduit par jMajon et EoGNETTA, 1839, p. 537. % Gazette Hebdomadaire, 10 Avril 1863. «* Lnc. eif. +t Traite des Plantes Medicinales Indigenes, 1855. :|;:|; The Edinburgli Medical Journal, vol. iv. 1859, pp. 1-7. L'Union Medicale, Juillet 1859. nil Tlie American Journal of the Medical Sciences, vol. xliii. January 1862, p. 54. <^I«ir Ibid., vol. xliv. October 1862, p. 395. *** De L'Antagonisme en Pathologic et en Therapeutique, 1866, pp. 92-115.