Delaware gazette. [volume] (Delaware, Ohio) 1855-1886, 1868-01-31
MFor Ghe Gazette.
The Late Rev. G ". Brush.

T
/ requires a statement oE some facts bear
( ing on his death, which Became known
/ to me in the two-fold capacity Of ply
sician and personal friend. I should
not feel at liberty 10 comply, were it
not that his family has freely consented
to the disclosure.
He came to me somseims in Novem-
Der 1866 stating that he was in the hab-
u OF taking B10TJ1lt 1lt5fler desired to leave
II on and wished my professional as
sistance against the effects which would
follow. He had undertaken this before,
ana became 50 Frustrated by an uncon-
Gro1aoIs dlarrhea, that II was thought
Dest TO desist. he considered the habit
so degrading, however, that he could
not ana must not, continue to indulge
It. 1t had been fixed upon him, he
said, by the administration Of physi-
clans, who had prescribed the drug for
/ MS tendency 70 diRrrhea, and for q la
tent cancer of the tongue, until he found
hlHnsel1 within the terrible grip of its
habitual use. He was determined, now,
% diminish the quantity rapidly and
soon dispense with it Haltogethers He
proceeded thus q Few days, when some
unezpected business required his at
| tentiou, which he thought himself un-
able to transact in the shattered state
to which his attempt had already re-
duced him. lie therefore gave it up
He referred to the subject frequently
during the year 1857. He was distress
singlY. well posted with regard to the
effects of the drug not from his own
experience merely, bat from extensive
reading of medical and other authori-
ties. He understood its horrid visions
and nightmares, its pinchings and
griplngs Of the bowels, its excitements
and insanities, is deathlilze cravings,
its agOnizina e Of gOneness and
despair ITS ostration and mel
2 Nsr-nr E.-.H-- nn--. --l-E l.
graded IN the res Qf all, with no ability
for usefulness that his life was a fail
ure; and he had been tempted to end
| it. could talk him out of such moods,
/ at least apparently bat he seemed to
relapse very seou& BE was chiefly dis
/ tressed by the idea that he could do no
He finally came to my once on the
I first day Of the present month"; t5anu-
ary 1862 saying that his people had
| kindly released him rom labor for two
I or three weeks. and asking if I still fsls
as friendly towards hin7. as when once
/ before Z had consented to take care Of
/ him at my house, while he should break
up that dreadful habit. I told him ]
I would do 50, If be wished to come, but
it would be necessary for the people to
/ know why he was there, otherwise the
I fact of his being at my house sick
/ while his own family were living in
f the same town, would give occasion to
! Injurious reports which could not we'll
1 be met. He then said the arranpenleut
would not answer withod5 the disclos-
/ ure referred to, which he felt 50 delicate
/ about making, that he would make an
| effort at his own house. Thereupon
/ be gave me some papers If morphine,
/ which he had bad causedto be weighedin
! gradually diminishing doses, beginning
I with less than half his usual quantity.
I He reserved a couple, one for each day
Of a visit he Waasaboubfo to make 10 some
/ frieuds in Columbus, requesting me to
[ call at his house on. the following Sat
I urday evening" when ] should find him
4 returned and sick on account of his
/ diminution of the morphine and that
/ be WOu4d then take no more except as
/ should think best to give it. went
On the appointed Saturday evening !;
/ found him weak trembling, sweating,
and aching, especially in the knees.
| But he rallied somewhat, and. .eonversed
| well, for an hour or so, on variety Of
/ subjects But ne had slept none and
| eaten nothing, as he said, since enter
ling upon his trial. The next day, in
stead Of taking the designated dose,
I which would have been about five
grains, he voluntarily proposed to take
still 4esss 4 continued TO spend the
I evenings with him for about ten days,
lgradually diminishing his dose, until it
! was reduced to aoOut one grain a day.
/ The diarrhea he had so much dreaded
was controlled without serious difficult
/ ty, and his nervous system. kept rea-
| sOnably steady He was generally
/ hopeful, and appeared much coE1forted
/ by my assurance that he was succeed
ing in the great work. One evening.
fhOWeVer, i found his condition little
/ different from what had expected, and
/ he Immediately said frankly that he
i had broken over his rule and taken
j about three grains of morphine his
Il d1arFhea had EeEurneu5z the medicine for
tchecking it was gone, and he hated to
send for me, and so had done it. He
/ was very much debresed, said il was
him to his fate, he would not blame me.
I I replied that I was not disposed to give
/ him up, should stick to him as long as
I he would let me, and that he must not
| surrender in the midst of the conflict.
/ He expressed himself very grateful
and said he would not again do any
4 thing of the sort. .-s
/ At4he end Of about two weeks he had
/ recovered his appetite, began to sleep
/ pretty we'll at night, came to visit me
ut the Office, and resumed his work. He
] was IN fine spirits, appearing to be
/ elated with the idea that he was deliv-
/ cred from a habit which had enslaved
/ him. He expressed his thanks to me in
/ the most ferYid and glowing terms. His
I last visit to my Office was on Friday,
A
/ against diarrhea, enough to last until
the next Tuesday, when he would come
/ and report again. I went to hear him
] preach on Sun lay evening" IT was
1 painfully evident from his manner that
I he was returning to his habit The ap-
| pointed Tuesday came, but he did net
] appear. Wednesday, passed away, and
/ still be came not had to leave town
/ at night, and did not return till late in
/ the night of Saturday, when I learned
I that he was dead, had terminated his
1 own life on the afternoon Of that day.F
| The cause of such q very sad end was
/ clear enough. I could follow him and
I bis thoughts from the point where I had
/ seen him last. Having taken little,
! just a very little, to relieve the distress
OF which he was not yet clear, the ap-
/ petite returned with the FOraeity OF a.
/ hundred demons. Hewas temporarily
/ overpoWered,- and yielded. Then he
/ considered that he had made his last
| trial. and had failed. His day of use
4 fitness was over. He thought himself
/ unworthy to live among men. The
/ gastly life Of an opium eater stared him
1 in the face. 1t was insuppoTtable.-
kept his misery to himself, while very
1 kind ana cOnsIder2te to his family, as
indeed he always was. Took more of
/ the drug to appeRE8 his agony. It
/ crazed him ;--drOVe hina out to the barn,
and through his own hands. suspended
| him upon a rope. It should be noted
| that downright insanity s not unfre-
quently the temporary effect OF a few
doses of opium. A man who lately at
tempted suicide in- a neigh boring town,
/ it is now understood, declares that he
has no knowledge of the affair. He is
addicted to the same habit. This tram
sient, but fearful insanity would be
likely to Overtake one returning too
rapidly to the use of the drug, after it
had been suspended. 1T probably did
come upon Rev. G. ". Brush. His
noble wife, who was almost idolized by
him, found him with few minutes, and
took him down herself; but alasI she
had nothing except his earthly body
He had gone to the other world forever.
Let no man judge him; and least of
all, those who have never experienced /
trial like his. They know nothing
about the sufferings Of one who UNDER
takes to deny such an appetite, how
every. fiber of the. body walls and cries