Clearfield Republican. [volume] (Clearfield, Pa.) 1851-1937, 1874-09-16
ALcHoHOL VS.. OPIUM

ALCHOHOL ". OfICM.
ENORMOUS INCREASE IN THE IMPoRTA-
TIoN OF THE POISONOUS DRuG-woMEN
THE PRINCIPAL coNsuMERs--INTER-
EsTIS0 STATISTICS.
Until 1910 our importation Of opium
did not exceed the proper medical de
mnnd for the drug, We used in that
year about $4,000 pounds of it. In
1870 we imported l54, BAL pounds in
1879, over 100000. Tho Chinese de
nqnd for opium prepared for smoking
accounts for about one-eighth of this.
Thrcc-eighths are absorbed in prescrip-
tions--prcscriptions which are too often
reclSlessly written, as we shall show
hereafter. This leaves fifty per cent,
or about 1861 pounds Of poison, un-
accounted for. The books of whole
sale drug houses in the East show
heavy sales of opium to the country
dealers. The habit of opium eating
seems TO prevail chiefly among women.
The fact may explain the great per-
centage Of farmers wives in lunatic
asylums. The author Of "rhe Opium
Habit estimates that there are So
900 or 100000 habitual opium caters
in the country. There are somewhat
precise returns, however, only from the
state ofstatistics-M Massachusetts. The
apothecaries in the smaller towns Of
the Commonwealth report an alarm
ing state of things, We subioin few
notes furnished by different druggists
to the Board of Health.
Those addicted TO opium are all females,
Several nervous women take opium here.
,n'ns .ne use ., opium h'' 'hsn''y increased
The Tbsre % sre srobasis half a dozen opium eater,
here, all females but one.
one On opium eater in town woman.
eIalIy among se ypmen. S nus s''"' ''''''''' ''f'
r. -. .e.,. -
ny oauses u 'niS aiiri,i'iiS ri, haDiv ~
en,PolSoiing ars soVerni nv .a1.v
- oi.e'i n l.rpii,''ou ,h , ~ e',iiy nnaney y
enerns nJ uso VI .no urugsou s{lap WIN Wiz"
h"h;su oJsn i1U.n's SrIn g'Nv ~ .ne'I pa $3.50 20
maui, pa - nv assonuIol.' ~ ,.i vS,a "n y,
'I ileS,sn' IN enuV,ses ..o "a'noi =, oliun'
nv Vp,ui' nPPo''so y, nis s'a'o'',en'
W;sa, yva. .ne S., U''s.5 ., VIA. =? hnomh ~ ~
"n,s,o" aa.' ,s; oIo'nin syrup y 'nos'u,a, .he
medicine gave one grain of the alkaloid
to an ounce of the syrup; the dose for
an infant, as directed, being four or
five times as great as that usually re
garded as safe" Another case is the
iashncss of physicians in prescribing
the drug. Out of fifty apothecaries,
fourteen mention this as great reason
of the growth of the habit. The opiate
treatment of neuralgia is very common
and very mischievious. This disease,
by the way. first led De Quincey to
use the deadly drug. The third great
cause is the denial Of the natural cray
ing for alcohol. Man, ballxed of one
stimulant takes another. ''lt is q sig.
nihcant fact that both in England and
IN this country the total abstinence
movement was almost Immediately fol,
lowed by an increased consumption of
opium" The English importation
doubled within hye years OF the out
break OF the movement. When teeto-
tallsm gained ground in America, our
importation although the price of OPT
um had Just increased fifty per cent
rose IN the proportion of 3-5 TO l.
MN, Mn, ~ us s1Sps't,'S 'Ti has;, ao ae NAM" a,;n
'e'..,,' ',vn, !, ~ -, naD'. ~ JD =,
he" h p,;h nS yet pe,ana 'o,s soPp;o,,', PJi. a;aaa
.ho he ,na ,s oc n,oasnI;o ,," sIpeI L"s oan s ~
~ nV o aoo =, "a.o e,',aua ohandn,adS M NJ ~
!" bonaa H. liz 'G; .su;s,oa.,, s os Inohr;atina