INTRODUCTION: A VIEW ON OPIUM THERAPY

in the course of the eighteenth century the therapeutic use of opium became increasingly popular in western medicine. The drug was prescribed in numerous preparations not only as an analgesic and narcotic, but also as a diaphoretic and as a remedy against diarrhoea, vomiting, and cough. Moreover, it was considered to be helpful in various nervous and mental disorders. During the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries opium therapy got a further boost from the Brownian system of asthenic and sthenic diseases. In his Elements of Medicine John Brown (1735–88) had recommended opium as the strongest and most diffusible stimulant, the powers of which surpassed those of ether, camphor, volatile alkali, musk, and alcohol. This recommendation rested partly on Brown's personal experience, since he had found opium to be an effective remedy against his fits of gout, which in his view resulted from debility or asthenia. He also referred to his own experiments with opium and the other five substances, that had suggested different degrees of stimulant effect. In consequence, the followers of Brown frequently administered opium preparations in order to raise the degree of excitement in states of asthenia, which – according to the system – characterized most diseases.