The Vancouver independent. (Vancouver, W.T. [Wash.]) 1875-1910, 1877-02-02
Do Not Give Opium for a Cold.

Do Not Give Opium for Cold.
Halls Journal Of Health cautions
against the use of opiates for colds.
1t says Cough, in cold is natures
effort to eject from the lungs what does
not properly belong there; precisely as
when crumb "goes the wrong way"
that is, into the windpipe instead of the
stomach. In each case opium dimin-
ishes the sensibility of the parts so that
they do not feel the presence of the
offending particles, and nature is cheat
ed. Any one can see that because a
dose of morphine quiets the cough from
crumb in the windpipe, it does not
"cure," it does not bring it away.
Most precisely so is it with phlegm in
the lungs; it has the effect to keep it
there to accumulate, just as water does
in the spout of a pump, when little
boys close the mouth of it with their
hands, pumping on all the time. Here
the comparison ends. However long
the water is kept in, it is water still. Not
SO with phlegm in tie lungs; every in
slant it is kept there, the heat of the parts
being 100 degs. Fab, it evaporates, be-
comes less watery, and of consequence
more tough, header to dislodge, increas-
ing in bulk by accumulations which
also grow thicker by evaportion, until
"the pipes" are plugged up with tough
phlegm so that the air passes it with in
creasing difficulty, and the patient
wheezes like--an asthmatic: the lungs
labor fearfully for breath, they cannot
get enough air, hence the blood becomes
impure and thick, and in this con-
dition goes to the heart, which labors
to send it on through the body, but
cannot wholly empty itself at each beat,
as is natural; and the blood still pouring
into it from the lungs, it gets prefer
naturally full, hence its fbers are relax
ed and then distended: this is ''enlarge-
ment of the heart" For while nature
struggles to relieve herself of this sur
plus, until the laboring heart has ex
pended all its strength in the vain effort,
until it cannot give another beat, and
suffocation is the instantaneous result.
MULLETT MAD.-The mighty Mullett
still lives, and swears, and gets his $40
day in the architects Office of the
treasury. He is nominally some sort
got the President to bestow upon Null
lett this sinecure post, despite the pro-
test of Secretary Morrill,. The latter
felt recently called upon to intimate
to Mullett that he was expected to do
nothing, and that he must not make
himself too officious. There was a
"scene" in the Office to-day. Gen. S.
Smith, who was member of the Com
mission which made a savage report on
Mullett's operations on the Chicago
Postoffice building, called upon Mr.. Hill
this afternoon, and passing through the
chief clerks room he espied the great
ex.architect earning his SO o day re-
Ginning leisurely on a settee. "Why,
how do you do. Mr.. Mullet?' cordially
exclaimed the General. Mullett scowled
and fidgeted. Chief Clerk Jacobs, step
ped up, saying, "Mr. Mullett. you re-
member Gen. Smith, don't you?"
50 Yes, sir, but l won't speak to him,
sir" very we'll" said the General,
"honors are easy" and he passed on.
Then did the mighty Mullett rise up in
anger. and he pounded the desk and
beat the chairs, and poured forth such
volley of oaths that shocked even his
old clerk. who heard him swear by the
hour in his more prosperous days. He
cursed Smith, the late architect Potter,
and the Chicago Commission till the air
was blue.-Boston Herald.
AN INDIGNANT PoET. Despite his
grave character, Frederick the Great
loved an occasional joke, provided it
were well spiced with malice. On one
occasion, Voltaire, according to previous
appointment. came to read a poem in
manuscript for his approval. The king
had meantime secreted behind a screen
in the same room a man of wonderful
memory, who had the gift of repeating
any composition, however lengthy, to
which he had once listened. When Vol
taire had concluded his recital, Freder-
lex expressed great admiration, but de-
clared he had heard the poem before.
The poet was indignant, repelling the
charge of plagiarism with great warmth.
The king, however, insisted that the
poem was by no means of recent origin,
and said there was man in his court
who could repeat it from beginning to
end. He sent for the man who had been
concealed behind the screen and who
had listened to the reading, and request
ed him to repeat ceatain poem, quot
ing the first lines. The man instantly,
and to the great establishment of Vol
taire, repeated the poem word for word.
After the king had sufficiently enjoyed
his Jest he revealed the trick to Voltaire,
who was both surprised and indignant.
SEEDS Two THOUSAND YEARS OLD.