The herald and mail. [volume] (Columbia, Tenn.) 1873-188?, 1874-08-21
ALCOHOL VS.. eFIUM.
Enormous Increase in the lmporSGHOn
OF the Poisonous Drug.

Until 1910 our Importation Of opium
did not exceed the proper medicinal de-
mana for the drug. We used in that
wear about "a, ,0T0 pounds of it. In 1870
we imported 154 ,841 pounds; n 1877,
over $50, 600. The Chinese demand for
opium prepared tor smoking accounts
for, about one-eighth Of this, Three
eighths are absorbed in prescriptions
prescriptions which are too often reck
IessIy written, as we shall show hereaf
ter, This leaves fifty per cent, or
about 125, ,OW pounds cf poison, unac.
counted for. The books 81 wholesale
drug houses liz. the east show heavy sales
of opium to the country dealers. The
habit of opi0i4 5ating seems to prevail
chiefly among women. The tact may
explain the great percentage OF farmer
wives in lunatic asylums. The author
of "The Opium Habit y estimates that
there are so, 600 or 100000 habitual
opium eaters III the country. There are
somewhat precise returns, however,
only from. the state of statistics-Mas-
sachusetts. The apothecaries in the
smaller town6 of she commonwealth re-
port an alarming state OF Shings. We
subioin few notes furnished by differ
ent druggists to the board of health
Those addicted to opium are all females
SeTenal nerrons woasen take opium here:
i think The Tlesz es o3hftrtz-has slightly in-
creased. ys.sEaS zl7osass fs1HalcH4
There are pfobably half q doteii opIufa eat
ers here, all females but one:
One opium-eater in town. woman;
The use of opium has greatly increased,
especially among women:
The causes of this alarming habit of
self. poisoning are several. The taste Is
often implanted IN early infancy by the
use of the drugged syrups which foolish
mothers give to their restless babes
The Massachusetts Board OF Health en-
dorses the author of "Oplum and the
Opium Appetite" in his statement that
.sthe basis of what is known as Wins
lows Soothing Syrup is morphia; re-
cent analysis of sample OF tins medl-
cine gave one grain of the alkaloid to
an ounce of the syrup; the dose for an
FAINT, as directed, being four or i've
times that usually tegatded as safe.
Another cause is the rashness of physl-
clans in prescribing the drug. Out OF
fifty apothecaties, fourteen mention this
as a great reason for the growth of the
habit. The Upiate treatment OF neulal-
gia is very common and very mischiev-
GUS This disease, by the way, first led
DeQuincy to use the deadly drug. Tie
third great cause is the denial OF the
natural cravings for alcohol, Man,
baked of one stimulant, takes another.
SIT is a significant fact that both in Eng
land and in this country the total abstl-
nence movement was almost immedi-
ately followed by an increased consump-
ton of opium" The English importa-
l.. a. Df
break of the movement. When teeto-
talism COINED ground in America, our
mportation-although the price OF OPT
um had just increased fifty per cent
rose in the proportion of Be- to l. Stille,
in his Therapeutics and Mater1a Med
| ica," saws F'The habit of opium chew
ing has become very prevalent in the
| British Islands, espe cially since the use
of alcoholic drinks has been to so great
an extent abandoned" Morehouse,
in his "History of Inebriating LID
uors," declares that the Mahometans
began to use opium when wine was for
bidden them in Turkey, increased de-
mand for wine, of late years, has been
accompanied by diminished demand for
opium. In hot countries, opium aud
| similar substances are very generally
used in place of alcoholic stimulants.
These instances establish a probability
that opium and alcohol conflict with
each other. The rse of one is apt to
involve the disuse OF the other. A num-
Der of Massachusetts apothecaries take
this view. One Boston druggist says :
"Have but one customer, and that a
noted temperance lecturer"
The prevalence of the habit among
women is probably explained by the un-
happiness of most of them, the mental
stacnation, the liability to nervous de-
preston, and, In the country, the seclu-
sion and the grinding physical work.
Moreover, women are excluded by pub
lie opinion from the beer hall and the
dram shop, and they are very subservi-
ent to that opinion. Their stimulants
must be secret. Opium, in its various
forms of laudanum, paregoric, and sui
phate of morphia, can be taken readily
in private and without interruption oi
duty.
The relation between alcohol and
opium is of special importance. If oul
prohibitory and mi-prohibitory laws
are not only bringing with them the
usual evils of sumptuary legislation,
but are driving thousands Of people tc
The use of a poison that is far worse
than alcohol, we need to know it. Rast
legislation may fatally affect morals.
The English taste for fiery liquors
taste that we have inherited-is attribu
ted by many thinkers to the heavy tar
iff imposed upon French light vines IL
17O3. This practically shut the latter
ont of the market, and drove the Eng
lish to the use of the heavy wines o.
Portugal. The taste once gained grew
upop them -ChicaoO Tribune.