Handbook of materia medica, pharmacy, and therapeutics : including the physiological action of drugs, the special therapeutics of disease, official and practical pharmacy, and minute directions for prescription writing / by Sam'l O.L. Potter.
- Samuel Otway Lewis Potter
- Date:
- 1897
Licence: Public Domain Mark
Credit: Handbook of materia medica, pharmacy, and therapeutics : including the physiological action of drugs, the special therapeutics of disease, official and practical pharmacy, and minute directions for prescription writing / by Sam'l O.L. Potter. Source: Wellcome Collection.
Provider: This material has been provided by Royal College of Physicians, London. The original may be consulted at Royal College of Physicians, London.
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![Stimulant (^Stimulus, a goad),—is a term which is used in various senses when applied to medicinal agents. Alcoholic preparations, which are true narcotics, are commonly termed “stimulants,” and the same expression is employed to designate any agent which excites even briefly the organic action of any part of the system. All excessive stimulation reacts into depression, and most of the agents which stimulate the nerve centres at first will soon depress and finally paralyze them. In many cases the action is one of progressive stimulation primarily and progres- sive paralysis afterward, affecting the centres in the inverse order of their development, the highest or latest developed centres being affected first, the lowest or oldest ones last. These laws are well exemplified in the action of Alcohol upon the nervous system. [See the article entitled Alcohol in Part I.] Diffusible Stimulants are those which have a prompt but transient effect on the general system, such as Alcohol, Ammonia, Camphor, etc. Spinal Stimulants exalt the functions of the cord, as Strychnine, Picrotoxin, Ergot, Atropine, Phosphorus. Cardiac Stimu- lants increase the action of the heart, as Alcohol, Atropine and Morphine in small doses. Strychnine, etc., also Squill, Convallaria, Cimicifuga and Digitalis, which slow but strengthen the cardiac action. Respiratory Stimulants directly stimulate the respira- tory centre, as Ammonia, Strychnine, Apomorphine, Belladonna, etc. Vaso-motor Stim- ulants, as Alcohol, Chloroform, Ether (all three in very small quantities). Ammonia, Strychnine, Digitalis and Squill, acting on the vaso-motor centre; and the Nitrites, Bella- donna, Electricity, Volatile Oils, etc., acting as local dilators of the vascular system. Cerebral Stinmlants, as Alcohol, Opium, Belladonna, Caffeine, Cocaine, Theine, Canna- bis, Chloroform, Ether, Tobacco, etc. Renal Stimulants, as the diuretic group. Stom- achic Stimulants, as the Aromatics, Volatile Oils, Vegetable Bitters, Mineral Acids, Nux Vomica, Mustard, Capsicum, etc. Hepatic Stimulants, as Nitro-muriatic and Nitric acids, and the cholagogue purgatives Podophyllum, Jalap, Leptandra, Euonymin, Iridin, etc. Intestinal Stimulants, as Mercurials, Elaterium, Colocynth, Jalap, Scammony, Podophyl- lum, etc., which affect the glandular apparatus,—and Belladonna, Physostigma, Nux Vomica, Rhubarb, Senna, Aloes, Frangula, Cascara, etc., which chiefly affect the mus- cular fibres and the intestinal nerves. Cutaneous Stimulants, as the diaphoretic group, and the rubefacients Mustard, Capsicum, Turpentine, Ammonia, etc. Sedatives (^Sedo, I allay),—are agents which exert a soothing influ- ence on the system by lessening functional activity, depressing motility and diminishing pain. General Sedatives include the narcotics and anaesthetics. Local Sedatives include Aco- nite, Opium, Ice, etc. Pulmonary Sedatives, as Hydrocyanic Acid, Veratrine and the nauseants and emetics. Spinal Sedatives, as Physostigma, Gelsemium, Potassium Bro- mide. Stotnachic Sedatives include Arsenic, Bismuth, Silver Nitrate, Sodium Bicarbon- ate. Vascular Sedatives, as Digitalis, 'I'obacco, Aconite, Veratrum, and the emetics. Nervous Sedatives, among which are Potassium Bromide, Tobacco, Lobelia, and the group of spinal depressants. Agents Aci’ing Chiefly on the Nervous System. Motor-Excitants are agents which increase the functional activity of the spinal cord and the motor apparatus, producing disturbances of motility, heightened reflex excitability, and tetanic convulsions when given in large doses, their ultimate effect being motor paralysis from over- stimulation. ,](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b24907303_0037.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
