The daily republic. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1853-1853, 1853-07-14
Nursing by Laudanum-An English In
stitutfon.

We give the following horrible description O
this cruel system which we have promised; it viii
be no doubt new to our readers as to ourselves
and shows that the usages of civilized society are
often more barbarous than those Of savages:
Sometimes a wetnurse is ciubbed for by three
and even four women. MIR. C0ulthard has seen
one 80 exhausted ''as to be unable to walk across
the room, while the children s'were almost unable
to move their hands or feet" The wetnurse, how.
ever, most frequently applied 70, il the laudanum
bottle. The dose is sometimes administered by
the mother before she leaves home, but more
generally by the old women who are employed
to take charge Of perhaps half-a-dozen children
who are carried every morning to her house
and whom she doses 80 as to keep them quiet dur
ing the day. at weekly stipend for each Of
from Is. 3D. to g. 3D. Erag a.f sae
The effect of laudanum upon the children is to
produce suffnsion on the brain, and whole
tribe Of glanduar and mesenteric disorders. The
child sinks into a low torpid state, and WASTES
ing its protuberance. If It survives, it is more
less weakly, and stunted for life-the complex
ion never assumes a healthy hue, and the vital
powers never attain their natural force and vigor.
The liquid principally used is drug common
enough through all the country, and well known
frey as the term is generally abbreviated, is q
household word. Just as the gin-loving race of
London delight to call their favorite beverage by
dozens of slangy, afectionate ttles-iust as there
is the Scream of the Valley" and the Irregular
Flare Up" and sold Tom, 7" there are to be
found in the lower districts Of the cotton towns
"Baby Is Mixture, ""Mother Quetness, ''"Child Is
Cordial "Infant's Preseryative,'' ''Soothing
Sirup, and SO FORTH The druggists are not the
only vendors of these narcotics. The low public
houses and the ssgeneral" shops keep them made
up in penny and half-penny doses, and, as may be
believed, the sale is immense .,
The "Godfrey is an old fashioned preparation,
and has been in use for nearly a century. 1t is
made of different degrees Of strength, but on the
average contains about an ounce and a half of
laudanum to the quart. The dose is from half a
teaspoonful to two teaspoonfuls. ssInfant 3 Cor
dial" has the reputation of being stronger, con-
tanning on the average two ounces OF laudanum to
the quart. The stronger the potion is, indeed, the
more it is sure to be in demand; and the dealers
have half-emptied bottle frequently brought to
them with request for drachm or SO additional
of laudanum. The constituents Of all these doses
over and above the narcotic element are water,
anise seed, and treacle. The stuff is often made
by wholesale in huge coppers, holding perhaps
twenty gallons, and thence supplied to the drug
gists and the general shops, to be frequently sold
in the latter as "children's draughts, a penny
each.'
Sometimes the children are dosed by the nurses
without the knowledge or consent of the mothers,
who, however, soon find out the truth by the Ian
guild air and wasting limbs of their offspring. But
the administration of sleeping stuff" for the
purpose of obtaining undisturbed night s rest,
is almost universal practice even by parents who
would shrink from supplying their offspring in the
daytime. Very young girls, too, when left in
charge Of children, follow the usages of the old
nurses; and thus, when every engine in Manches-
ter is painting and throbbing, and every adult and
youthful hand and eye upon the alert, large
proportion of the infant population is lying in q
torpid sleep-their young energies sealed up, and
their brains becoming softened under the spell of
the wretched potion which has lulled them. The
question here arises, whether child 80 treated,
but surviving its youth, has not nlbibed tastes for
opium-drnking which cling to it in after-life. We
are inclined to believe that such cases are the ex
ceptions, not the rule. The steady disciple of the
mills, az soon as the child is introduced to them,
breaks up old habits, and launches the individual
as it were, into new course of life. Still, there
is certain consumption of opium among the
grown-up population. The drug is used in both
its raw and liquid states; and women are the prin-
cipal customers for it in the latter. In the of
children put out to nurse, the doses are OF course
gradually strengthened The old woman intrust-
cd with the charge serves out the teaspoonfus,
and then having laid her Supplied babies in beds
and cradles, goes about her own business, which
is generally that of laundress. Many of these
persons earn in this way really handsome in
come, from which, however, the expense of the
drugs is a considerable drawback.
r A CHARGE AS is CHARGE.-Judge Jonah Joles
recently delivered the following charge to the
jury in the case of Elm Crunch for stealing:
s'Jury, you kin go out, and don't show your
ugly mugs here till you find verdict; if you
can't get one of your own, get the one the last
jury used. !"
The jury retired, and after an absence of fif-
teen minutes, returned with verdict of "Suicde
in the ninth degree and fourth verse.
Then Judge Jonah Joles pronounced upon
Elm Crunch this sentence: "Elim Crunch stand
up and face the music. You are found guilty of
suicide for stealing. Now this court sentences
you to pay fine of two shilings, to shave your
try to in the heads of any Of the jury you'll
catch thunder, that's all. Your fate will be
warning to Others and, in conclusion, may the
Lord have mercy on your SOUL Sheriff, get
pint of red-eye; I'm awful thirsty"
year of our Lord 1859, there arc eighty-threc
sovercigns of republics, empires, monarclies,
duchies, and celebrates. Of these
the number of governing Presidents is eighteen,
all of which, outside of the United States Presi-
dency, are Central and South American offices,
with the exception of Liberia. There are six En-
perors, including his sable highness Faustin the
First sixteen Kings, counting as one of the
'sheads Of the world'' Jamaco, King of all the
Mosquitoes Under this "head" also come the
Kings of Dahomey and the Sandwich Islands. Of
reigning Princes there are ten, Grand Dukes
seven, Dukes ten, all of which are petty German
States, and nearly all of which are very insignf-
can't Under this head also comes one Elector
and one Landgrave. OF Queens we have FIVE,
Ranavalona of Madagascar, Pomare of
the Society Islands, and others scarcely more
civilized. We have one Pope, two Sultans, Chose
Of Borneo and Turkey,) two Governors, Of Entire
Rios and Correntes; one Viceroy, of Egypt; one
Shah, Persia; one Imaum, Muscat; one Amcer,
Cabul; and one Director, of Nicaragua
For LovE.--The Boston Transcript tells us that
at nine O'Clock on Monday morning yonng
miss, apparently about ''sweet SIXTEEN very de-
libcrately threw herself from Fosters wharf into