Daily Kennebec journal., 1876-11-01
opium Eating.

Il
| The Portland Press and Advertiser have both
spoken faithful words in regard to the pernicious
habit OF opium eating Probably few people have
any adequate conception of the fIghtful ex-
| tent to which the habit prevails. Tie results do
not demonstrate themselves as In tie case of
/ quor drinking. The victim seeks quietude and
| sccusion. Hence it is that members of his imme-
diate family are often unaware of the danger
which is gathering around him, until he is a slave
to an appetite which is almost unconqueiable An
| English physician who had resided great many
years in China, reported recently that he had seen
more than three hundred patients enter one hos
pital TO be cured of the opium habit, and in no one
| of these cases was the desired result attained
There was no authority to keep the patients be-
yond their WILL and all lacked sufficient courage or
strength to persist in the total abstinence from the
seductive drug, which was cardinal point in the
| treatment. Though physicians do not generally
| look upon the cases absolutely hopeless they
all regretfully acknowledge that they approach no
| task in which success is possible with less heart
| than that OF treating a confirmed case Of opium
| habit.
The presence and work of this great evil ha.
called forth class ofyipers who have offered for
| sale "Opium Antidotes.'' The Cumberland
County Medical Society has done humanity a
service by exposing one Of these frauds. a sam
pie of an "antidote" was obtained from the manu-
facturer, Mrs. j. \. Drolinger of La Porte, lndi-
ana. The proprietress declined to give any infor-
nation as to its composition, saying, however,
that it ais harmless when taken as directed" and
'does not contain opium in any form" But tests
| I.z1 tr.ll
obtained Of the presence Of morphine. A COM
mittee of the society was appointed to more fully
investigate the subject. That committee has re-
ported, having obtained the analysis of two promi-
nent New York Chemists They find the stuff to
consist Of glycerne colorcd with anne red, and
containing in solution ciystalized suphate of NOR.
phiue 1888 per cent by weight-about seven
grains to the ounce. While this investigation was
progressing, the committee found another alleged
"opium. antidote, prepared by Dr. s. Il. Collin,
the narcologist Of the age, likewise of La Porte,
Indiana. specimen of this was submitted to
DIR. Henry Carmichael Professor of Chemistry in
Bowdoin College and Asssyer of the State of
Maine, who determined that 2 per cent. was sui
phate Of morphne-fourteen grains to the ounce.
The unfortunate opium eater Is directed to take
the "antidote' in doses that i'll exceed the great
est amount Of morphine Of its equivalent which he
had ever taken. This of course, will relieve the
craving for opium which he had vainly been try
ing to appcase by other means, but will fasten on
him more firmly than ever, the habit which is
working his ruins, he all the time believing that he
is rapidly becoming disenthralled.
An ordinarily prescribed dose Of these rrepara
tiont is a ateaspoonful twice day, containing, in
the case of the stronger, about grain and three
quarters of morphine and, when It is considered
that the medicinal dose Of this active principle is
only sixth or a quarter of era in, some idea is
obtained of the prodigious amount of this drug
which the unfortunate dupos taking into their
systems. The eagerness Of the patients to effect
cure i, well shown by the exorbitant price which
they willingly pay for these wicked nostrums.
Twenty dollars is the pice for bottle which con
tains about a months supply, and one gentleman
in Portland, within year paid one of these swim
dlers over two hundred and thirty dollars for the
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