Morbid craving for morphia (Die Morphiumsucht.) : a monograph founded on personal observations / by Edward Levinstein ; translated from the German by Charles Harrer.

Date:
1878
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Morbid craving for morphia (Die Morphiumsucht.) : a monograph founded on personal observations / by Edward Levinstein ; translated from the German by Charles Harrer. 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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    which replaces the pale condition apparent during the first few days. ^ Flow of blood to the head and palpitation of the heart, with a hard pulse, soon show themselves. The. latter symptom often disappears suddenly, and is replaced by a slow, irregular, thread-like pulse, which is a sign of the beginning of a severe col- lapse. The reflex irritability increases, the patients begin to sneeze and to have paroxysms of yawning; they start if anyone approaches them ; touching their skin causes crampy movements or convulsions ; the trembling of the hands, if not already evident, now becomes distinctly perceptible. The power of speech is disordered ; lisping and stammering takes place. Diplopia, and disorders of the power of accommoda- tion, frequently accompanied by increased secretion of the lachrymal glands, show themselves. The patients are overcome by a feeling of weakness and total want of energy, and are thus compelled to lay in bed. Neuralgic affections of various parts of the body, pain in the front and back of the head, cardialgia, abnormal sensations in the legs, associated with sali- vation, coryza, nausea, vomiting, and diarrhoea, tend to bring them into a desperate condition. Some persons will bear up with fortitude under all these trials ; they will quietly remain in bed, and will endure the unavoidable suffering, hardly uttering a complaint. Of the others, although the great