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At one period, substances supposed to possess narcotic virtues were placed about the bed to obviate watchfulness; the plant Anethum, or Dill, was very commonly suspended over the head for such a purpose, while in modern times the Hop has been introduced into the pillow.

In concluding the history of Narcotics, it may be observed, that there is, perhaps, no class of medicinal bodies, the individuals of which are less disposed to bend and conform to an artificial arrangement; each would seem to have its own particular mode of operation, and to affect sensibility in its own peculiar manner; and hence the practitioner will often find that, after the failure of one narcotic, the administration of another will induce sleep.

Substances which have the power of allaying the inordinate action of muscular structures, and of assuaging pain, without occasioning that state of insensibility which characterises the operation of narcotics.

There are certain medicinal bodies which would appear to exert a specific control over spasmodic action, from whatever cause it may have originated, such are Assafœtida, Galbanum, Musk, Castor, Ammonia, Valerian, &c. To such remedies the term antispasmodic more exclusively belongs, but in a more general view of the subject we must admit that this class branches, by indefinable gradations, into narcotics and tonics; for since spasm may be connected with the most opposite states of the body, it is very evident that many of the individuals included in the class of antispasmodics, can only be relative agents: spasm, for instance, may arise from excessive irritability, as from teething, wounds, worms, &c. in which case a narcotic would prove beneficial; or it may depend upon a state of general debility, the proper remedy for which would be the administration of an Aromatic Stimulant, or the assiduous exhibition of some permanent tonic.