ABSTRACT
Mrs. gardner, living at No. 18 Clark street Binghamton, N. Y., had been a victim of morphine habit for twelve years. She was taken, August 3, with vomiting and diarrhœa. I was called at 2 a.m. to see the case, when I learned the fact of her addiction to morphine. During the past two years she had used a drachm bottle every four days (hypodermically), an average of 15 grains per diem. Her husband or daughter gave the injections into the arms, six syringefuls being given in the morning, four at noon and six at night. The arms were one complete mass of scars and scabs from the wrists to the shoulders, and were truly a sight to behold. Satisfying myself as to the cause of the vomiting, I suggested to her husband the necessity of at once withholding the amount of narcotic and of commencing to break up the habit. He at once gave his consent. I gave her remedies to quiet the stomach and allay vomiting, and on the 7th of August I put her upon the use of fluid extract coca with other remedies, and then began the diminution of morphine by decreasing in one-half grain per day for the first five days, then one grain a day for the second five days, then one and one-half grains a day down to August 24, when she passed the day entirely without any of the drug and without the least desire for it. She has gained strength, her bowels move regularly, her appetite is good and she is generally improved.
