ABSTRACT
Alcohol, when medicinally needed, there are many substitutes even better than it, can never take the place of opium, for which there are at present, considering its various useful properties, none. Opium is also rightly credited with being a stimulant and, in a sense, an aphrodisiac. Opium undoubtedly diminishes at first the secretions from the entire alimentary tract, causing dryness of the mouth and throat, and exciting thirst. The effect of even dietetic doses of opium upon the liver is usually uniform. As the individual becomes accustomed to the opium, the evacuations, at first light, assume very nearly their normal colour. Generally speaking, opium promotes diaphoresis, but not when a person has become habituated to its use: then it seems to have the opposite effect. The remedies used by the allopathic practitioner to fulfil the same indications would probably be, simply, a suitable purgative, opium and quinine.
