(seq. 383)

376

Materia Medica

Stimulants

that I had mistaken Dr Hinnis’s practice and had not
carried the dose so far as he had done, proceeding on this supposition
he prescribed forty grains of camphor for the next nights dose, in about
half an hour after it had been taken, I was sent for to see my
patient, she appeared quite insensable with the pulse hardly
perceptable and the breathing almost suspended, with a pailness and
coldness over her whole body I supposed she was dying, but by holding
some spirits of hartshorn to her nose and chafing her extremities with
warm flannel she was so far recovered as to swallow a little warm
milk and by these means she continued so for some time, the pulse
and the heat of her body was a good deal augmented and she
had the appearance of being in a sleep, when she recovered her
pulse was in the natural state of the mania very much. In this
case I find no primary effects of camphor being a sedative because
Dr Cullen did not see his patient untill half an hour after she had
taken the medicine. Dr Monroe had a pretty just Idea of
camphor Several years ago I attended a gentleman who was accustomed
to take about a teaspoonfull at a time of the mixture of camphor
at one time he took Ʒi [1 dram] of it, it threw him into a delirium and
his eyes became inflamed upon the whole I have no doubt it is a