This article is only available in the PDF format. Download the PDF to view the article, as well as its associated figures and tables.
In a note on the "Modifications of the Pulse in Morphiomania," presented to the French Académie des Sciences in March, 1887, by Professor B. Ball and Dr. Oscar Jennings, the authors discussed the mechanism of the morphia craving, and showed that there is ischæmia of the general circulation during the period of privation, and that an injection of morhia administered at this time causes a disappearance of the psycho-somatic suffering which constitutes the craving, and is followed by restoration of the pulse. In a communication to the Académie de Médecine in March they stated that they had found that morphia craving can be appeased by other drugs which restore the pulse in a similar manner. "We thought," they say, "it would be preferable to try heart tonics, and strengthen the action of this organ in moments of weakness. To this end we have employed sulphate of sparteine, which fulfils most