The New Orleans bulletin. [volume] (New Orleans [La.]) 1874-1876, 1875-05-08

A man, aged thirty-two, was taken to Der
lin hospital complaining Of general debility
loss of appetite, and muscular tremors. N,
internal disease was detected on examination
beyond slight enlargement of the liver; blu
the filthy and abject appearance Of the pa
tient was curiously in contrast with his edu
Gated speech, when he explained that what al
first was supposed to be the strong alcoholic
smell of his breath was really due to ether
It turned out, in fact, that this unfortunate
wretch, in the endeavors which he had been
tions by means of ether, had succeeded in
reducing himself from an honorable position
to his present deplorable state.
Formerly he was a man of temperate hab.
its, free from excess of any kind, and much
engaged in philosophical and aesthetic studies,
with too great tendency to theological CO.
mystical speculations. He had gone through
his university examinations with honor, and
his future prospects were encouraging, when
q work of Dieffenbachs, on the employment
Of ether, fell into his hands, in which the
phenomena of narcotics we're depicted in such
glowing colors as to arouse the expectations
Of one gifted with.an imaginative disposition.
He resolved to try its effects, and in Decem-
Der, 1866, first inhaled from two ounces to two
ounces and half of sulphuric ether. which
he poured upon his pocket-handke
while lying on q sofa alone IN his room.
He soon became unconscious, and series
Of vivid llusory pictures, chiefly OF mystical
character, succeeded each other, in utter de-
fance Of all ideas of time and space; so that,
while be had seemed to livs through intermin-
able ages, he found on awaking that he had
scarcely slept quarter of an hour. No i'll
effects whatever resulted from the trial, and
from his subsequent employment of the ether
ne never experienced any physical inconve-
nience. The remarkable and unique circum-
stances in this persons case is that he did not
resort to the ether for the relief Of any bodily
pain, but induced narcosis purely as means
Of enjoyment. Unfortunately, he coald not
rest content with his first experiment, the in
sensibility becoming interrupted just as he
seemed to be on the point of attaining his de-
sires.
This was repeated, therefore, but he found
the dream-land which he conjured up was by
no means SO rich in pictorial effect as that pro-
duced by his narcosis, however large and
repeated the doses of ether might be. The
inhalation soon became mere habit and
from being sparing!y INDUCED in was trans
formed into an irresistible propensity, all the
original aspirations after the lofty and eternal
having given way to the craving for merely
sensuous stimulus. AT first only etherizing
himself in his own room, this soon ceased
to satisfy him, and, with his handker-
chief saturated with ether applied to his
mouth and nose, he staggered through
the streets from one drug shop to another in
order to purchase small quantities of ether,
as the large quantities which he found requi-
site to produce complete narcosis were not
permitted to be sold. In fact, he had reached
the point of consuming from two to two and
one-haf pounds Of ether daily. Driven from
his home through the disgust given to other
dodgers by the smell of the ether, and refused
supplies by the druggists, he became wan
dering wretch, seeking shelter where he
could, until at length his exhausted power
compelled him to accept the aid of the hos
pital.-Erchange