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                                   AN

                                 ESSAY

                                 ON THE

                           EFFECTS of OPIUM,

                        Considered as a POISON.

                   [Price One Shilling and Sixpence.]




                   AN ESSAY ON THE EFFECTS of OPIUM.

                             Considered as

                               A POISON.

                 With the most Rational Method of Cure,
                        deduced from Experience.

          Directing likewise the proper Means to be used when
            Physical Assistance cannot be readily obtained;

    Necessary to be universally known, for the Preservation of Life.

                           By JOHN  AWSITER,

             Apothecary to the Royal Hospital at Greenwich.

                  —— —— Si quid novisti rectius istis,
               Candidus imperti—Si non, his utere mecum.

                       HORAT. Epist. VI. Lib. I.

                                LONDON:

               Printed for G. KEARSLY, in Ludgate-street,
                               MDCCLXIII.




                                 TO THE

                         President and Fellows

                                 OF THE

                      Royal College of Physicians.


    Gentlemen,

I Was induced to write this Essay, from a Desire of throwing a Light
upon a Subject, hitherto but triflingly, and, at best, obscurely
treated. As I had no beaten Path to direct me, many perhaps are the
Errors that may be traced through every Page.

I do not boast an Ability to enforce my Sentiments with that energic and
expressive Beauty of Style some are so happy to possess. I am no Author,
and can therefore only rely on your _Candour_, in Behalf of a simple
Recital of such Facts as I have experienced.

When I consider the Novelty of the Subject, and the Rareness of Patients
poisoned with Opium, I am inclined to flatter myself, you will not
discourage, but be rather inclined to cherish under your Wings, every
Effort (however weak) that tends to elucidate so extensive a Branch of
Science, as Physic. I beg the Honour of subscribing myself,

    Gentlemen,

      Your most obedient,

          Humble Servant,

                                                             J. AWSITER.

St. _Margaret's Church-Yard, Westminster, January 5, 1762._




                          PREFATORY DISCOURSE.


Among People who are unacquainted with the Nature of Opium, it is a
received Opinion,——That as it will, when taken in proper Doses, lull
Pain, and procure Rest; so, in large Quantities, that it will terminate
a Life of Cares, by an _easy_ and _quiet_ Death; but it is not so: this
argument is directly contrary to the Nature of our Existence, the animal
Oeconomy being so formed, as not to bear a total Solution, without some
Agonies. Thus, when this Drug is received into the Stomach, in Quality
of a Poison, easy Rest is denied, the Senses, roused by their threatened
Solution, force the animal Powers into immediate Conflict with the
noxious Body, which produces Convulsions, and other dreadful Symptoms,
the Forerunners of Death.——The Drug is besides of so strong a Nature,
that, though taken only into the Stomach, it can change the Colour of
the Skin, and even of the Linen wore next it; a Body also, many Hours
after Death, will smell so strongly of it, as to determine whether it
was the Instrument of Destruction used.

I might have encreased the Bulk of this Essay, by expatiating on the
Effects of Opium upon the arterial Fluid; I could inform you, that the
Power of it is diffused by the Stimulus of the recurrent Nerves, to
their Origin in the Cerebellum, whence, by Consent of Parts, the whole
System partakes of the Affect, and the contaminated Fluid is propelled
by them, through the Heart into the Arteries, and communicated to the
most distant Parts of the Body; also that the Skin is formed by very
minute Fibres of the Nerves, interwoven with arterial Fibres and Veins,
forming numerous Compages of secerning Vessels, &c. &c. but these are
Subjects best suiting the medicinal Powers of Opium, which being
derogatory from my Design, are purposely avoided, and, but that these
Pages are for the Perusal of more than the Circle of Physical Gentlemen,
the Cases alone would have been inserted, without even giving the
natural History of the Drug; for this same Reason, the Prescriptions are
set down in _English_, and the whole Essay disrobed of technical
Expressions, as far