unbearable
affection. In some instances the ingestion of opium provokes an
eruption in the form of small, isolated red spots, which, in their
general character, resemble roseola. Rieken remarks that when these
spots spread over all the body they present a scarlatiniform
appearance, and he adds that even the mucous membranes of the mouth and
throat may be attacked with erethematous inflammation. Behrend
observed an opium exanthem, which was attended by intolerable itching,
after the exhibition of a quarter of a grain. It was seen on the chest,
on the inner surfaces of the arms, on the flexor surfaces of the
forearms and wrists, on the thighs, and posterior and inner surfaces of
the legs, terminating at the ankles in a stripe-like discoloration
about the breadth of three fingers. It consisted of closely disposed
papules of the size of a pin-head, and several days after the
disappearance of the eruption a fine, bran-like desquamation of the
epidermis ensued. Brand has also seen an eruption on the trunk and
flexor surfaces, accompanied with fever, from the ingestion of opium.
Billroth mentions the case of a lady in whom appeared a feeling of
anxiety, nausea, and vomiting after ingestion of a small fraction of a
grain of opium; she would rather endure her intense pain than suffer
the untoward action of the drug. According to Lewin, Brochin reported a
case in which the idiosyncrasy to morphin was so great that 1/25 of a
grain of the drug administered hypodermically caused irregularity of
the respiration, suspension of the heart-beat, and profound narcosis.
According to the same authority, Wernich has called attention to
paresthesia of the sense of taste after the employment of morphin,
which, according to his observation, is particularly prone to supervene
in patients who are much reduced and in persons otherwise healthy who
have suffered from prolonged inanition. These effects are probably due
to a central excitation of a similar nature to that produced by
santonin. Persons thus attacked complain, shortly after the injection,
of an intensely sour or bitter taste, which for the most part ceases
after elimination of the morphin. Von Graefe and Sommerfrodt speak of a
spasm of accommodation occurring after ingestion of medicinal doses of
morphin. There are several cases on record in which death has been
produced in an adult by the use of 1/2 to 1/6 grain of morphin.
According to Wood, the maximum doses from which recovery has oc