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


ENORMOUS INCREASE IN THE 1MPoRTA-
TIoN OF THE POISONOUS DRuG--woMEN
THE PRINCIPAL coNsuMERs--INTER
EsTIN0 STATISTICS. tfl.
Until 1910 our importation Of opium
did not exceed the proper medical de
nand for the drug, We used in that
year about $4,000 pounds of it. In
1870 we imported l54,841 pounds in
1872, over 100000 The Chinese de-
mqnd for opium prepared for smoking
accounts for about one-eighth of this.
Thrcc-eighths are absorbed in prescrip-
tions--prescriptions which are too often
recllessly written, as we shall show
hereafter. This leaves fifty per cent,
or about 125, 900 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 "Thc Opium
Habit estimates that there are s0,-
900 or 100, 900 habitual opium caters
in the country. There are somewhat
precise returns, however, only from the
state eofstatistics- Massachusetts. The
apothecaries in the smaller towns of
the Commonwealth report an alarm
ing state of things. We subjoin few
notes furnished by different druggists
to the Board of Health.
Those addicted to opium are all females.
Several nervous women take opium here.
think the use Of opium has slightly increased,
mostly among females.
There are probably half dozen opium eaters
here, all females but one.
One opium eater In town--a woman.
The use Of opium has greatly increased, cspe-
cially among women.
The causes of this alarming habit of
selfpoisoning are several The taste
is often implanted in early infancy by
the use of the drugged syrup which
foolish mothers give to their restless
babies, The Massachusetts Board of
Health, endorses the author of "Opium
and Opium Appetite in his statement
that 'the basis of what is known as
Winslow's Soothing Syrup is morphia;
a recent analysis Of sample of this
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
iashness of physicians in prescribing
the drug. Out of fifty apothecaries,
fourteen mention this as q 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 Quincy to
use the deadly drug. The third great
cause is the denial Of the natural crav-
ing for alcohol. Man, balked of one
stimulant takes another at is q sig
nificant 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 five years of the out
break of the movement When teeto-
talism gained ground in America, our
importation although the price of OPT.
um had just increased fifty per cent
rose in tho proportion Of 3-5 to L.
stflle, III his fhviapuu,ics anu pravuIia
Medica," says: "The habit of opium
chewing has become very prevalent in
the British Islands, especially since
the use of alcoholic drinks has been TO
so great an extent abandoned More
house, in his History of Inebriating
Liquors declares that the Mohame-
tans began TO use opium when wine
was forbidden them. In Turkey, in
creased demand for wine Of late years,
has been accompanied by diminished
demand for opium. In hot countries,
opium and similar substances are very
generally used in place of alcoholic
stimulants. These instances establish
a probability that opium and alcoho.
conflict with each other. The use Of
one is apt TO involve the disuse of the
other A number of Massachusetts,
apothecaries take this view. One
Boston druggist says;-"Have but one
customer, ana tnat a noted temperance
lecturer
The prevalence of the habit among
women is probably explained by tho
unhappiness of most of them, the men
tai stagnation, the liability to nervous
drepression, and, in the country, the.
seclusion and the grinding physical
work. Moreover women are excluded
by public opinion from the beer hall