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half an hour or thereabout fell into a slumber which lasted, uninterruptedly, for about six hours. In the morning he observed none of the inconveniences which opium usually produces with him, no unpleasant taste nor dryness of the mouth; no want of usual appetite; no derangement of bowels. Now, as this gentleman rarely sleeps more than three or four hours consecutively, except after much bodily exertion during the previous day, which he had not had on this occasion; and as opium, in most circumstances not involving acute pain, produces in him quiet sleeplessness and not sleep; and is next day followed by various inconveniences of acute indigestion, this experiment may be considered successful.

The same individual took 20 minims of the same tincture on another occasion, to secure sleep under the following circumstances :-Being frequently incommoded by rheumatic irritation in the head, producing frightful dreams, troublesome nightmare, megrims, headaches, &c., he took 20 minims of the tincture of hemp, with 3fs. spir. ammon. arom. at bed time, and with effects similar in kind to those experienced on the former occasion. He has since taken 3fs. of the tincture, with ammonia, for a similar head affection, and with very satisfactory effect.

CASE II.

A patient of forty-four, admitted into the St. Marylebone Infirmary, in August 1842, for ovarian dropsy, suffered much from abdominal pains about the seat of the tumour principally, but also over the greater part of the same side of the abdomen. The pains seemed to be neuralgic, and referrible in part, at least, to pressure by the tumour on the neighbouring organs. She had been tapped many times since admission, to the amount of 12 or 15 pints each time of syrup-like fluid. It was likewise not impossible that malignant structure developed in the ovary might be the seat of much of the intense pain under which the patient laboured. This poor woman for a long time before her death, which occurred in February last, had taken morphia and Battley's solution daily in considerable quantities:viz. a strong opiate at night, and smaller doses occasionally; and latterly, at least thrice during the day; so that her daily allowance amounted to not much less than the equivalent of half an ounce of common laudanum. In December last, finding the bowels costive, and the stomach deranged, owing, as I conceived, very much to the use of opium, I substituted the hemp. I began with cautious doses, viz. 15 or 20 drops, but soon by gradual additions attained to gifs for a night draught, with æther mixture, which latter she had previously taken with the opium. She took also

VOL. XXVI.

as much as gifs of the hemp tincture repeatedly throughout the day. Under such doses she had quiet nights, undisturbed materially by pain or by cough, which latter had for some time been very troublesome at night. Her bowels were easily regulated by small doses of the dilute aloes pill at night, and she was, for her hopeless condition, in a state of comparative comfort for many weeks. At length, towards the end of February, her powers became exhausted, and her frame to the last degree extenuated, and she gradually sank, and died on the 12th of March.

In this patient, the hemp seemed to have no other effect than as an anodyne and soporific-it caused no indigestion that I could detect whatever.

CASE III.

About the same time, one of my nurses, long accustomed to drachm doses of Battley's solution at night, on account of asthmatic attacks, was persuaded by me to substitute the hemp in like quantity on two or three occasions, and the effects were reported similar and equal to those previously experienced from morphia and Battley, viz. good sleep without interruption by cough, dyspnoea, &c.

CASE IV.

A lady, between thirty and forty, in carrying a glass vessel carelessly, fell on the stairs, and received a wound on the inside of the right carpus

about an inch in length, and penetrating through the whole thickness of the cutis: the wound was of course ragged, being made by a piece of broken glass; it was dressed with adhesive plaister, over which a wet linen compress was kept in place of a poultice; the part became soon after the accident swollen and painful, and the irritation extended upwards to the shoulder. Being unable to sleep for the pain, she took, about 4 a.m., and according to instructions I had given her, a moderate dose (about 20 drops) of the hemp tincture; soon after which she fell asleep, and rested for four hours without interruption. On this occasion, no repetition of the hemp was necessary; on a second occasion, she took hemp in like manner for a pain in her side, and with like good effect-she suffered no inconvenience whatsoever from the anodyne, on either occasion.

CASE V.

A gentleman's cook, about thirty years of age, had her rest much broken by cough, so much so, that her strength was impaired, she said, for want of rest; on examination, I found sufficient evidence of tuberculation in the right lung. In addition to alkaline and other ingredients for use by day, I ordered for this patient the hemp in half drachm doses at night. These she took repeatedly, and with excellent effect-they procured the needful repose on nearly every occasion of taking them, and in no way deranged her appetite or digestion.

CASE VI.

On the 10th of February last, I commenced the use of hemp in low doses, in the case of a rheumatic female, twenty-two years of age, admitted 14th January 1843 she had been out of place for twelve months, and had been a month ill with pain of knees and elbows more particularly, which prevented sleep, and were much complained of; she had had opiates at night, and iodide of potassium and iodide of iron during the day; her sleep being still disturbed, and her head aching, I gave her hemp. At first the new medicine had no important effect; the second night I doubled the dose, then tripled it, and she told me she passed good nights with the half drachm doses, which she took from February 15, to her discharge a few days after; she perspired under its use every night, her tongue was clean in the morning, her appetite good, and she took it regularly for about a week, when she was discharged, well.

CASE VII.

A man of thirty-seven, a labourer, admitted February 8, with emphysema and tuberculation of the lungs; had been short-winded from two to three years, had palpitation, never had hæmoptysis, breathing humeral, (viz the shoulders rose and fell with inspiration and expiration,) coloration of

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