Sedative

Sedative, the term applied to a class of remedies which exercise a restraining action on certain of the animal tissues. For example respiratory sedatives prevent spasm of the muscular tissue of the bronchi, and so relieve cough. Cerebral sedatives, such as the bromides, diminish excitability and over-activity of the central nervous system. Cardiac sedatives comprise the drugs which exerclse a restraining influence on the nervo-muscular apparatus of the heart, and intestinal sedatives tend to arrest the mnscular movements of the bowel.