The true northerner., 1879-08-08

Q STlMULANTS AND NARCOTICS.
o DIR. b. w. Richardson, Who has made spec
o study OF the subject, and who has great med
1 Cal experience among all classes in Londor
. has written paper in the Contemporary Re
!. view on the physiological action OF intoxicant
r Some OF his conclusions will be found strangel
; counter to prevailing impressions. Thus, con
, trary to preconceived theories, he says that a
, intense craving for tobacco is compatible witt
J a morbid appetite for alcohol that only thos
who indulge TO excess in one agent can tolerat,
large quantities of the other His experienc,
is that the minute vessels at the end OF th,
arterlal circuit are contracted by nicotine. sc
, that the face becomes pale, and the surface Of
the body cold: that, on the other hand. glass
Of spirits relaxes the same vessels, Aushes the
face, and, IN every particular, counteracts the
drug. So that when a man is seen smoking
and drinking, recurring now and then to wine
or beer to quiet the quam inflicted by the cigar
or pipe, an instructive physiological expert
ment is in progress; the man is inducing a
balance in the tension Of his arterial system.
Consequently, according to DIR. Richardson.
great smokers tend to hard drinkers, while few
among total abstainers from alcohol can bear
TOBACCO, except to very moderate extent.
On the subject Of the use OF opium as tox-
lcal agent, DR.. Richardson asserts that il is
dying out in England; that it Is far less COM
mon among the richer classes than formerly:
but he intimates that chlorsl hydrate has more
than usurped its place; that the actual opium
eaters OF English society ara now So extremely
limited In number that the mortality returns
give no clue to them as a class suffering from
the indulgence AS respects the assertion that
professed abstainers from strong drink are
more addicted to narcotics than are the con-
sumers OF alcohol, the facts, he says, are all
the other way that he has never met with an
instance that afforded go much az suspicion
OF habItual narcotism among this class. From
this be infers that the men and women who
abstain on principle from one form OF Intoxi-
cation would be NOS: apt to evnce resolution
IN abjuring ali forms. He admits that many
abstainers smoke tobacco but claims that "a
the habit, unrelieved by an alconolic antidote.
seriously taxes the physical health, they are
to curtall, il not forego. the use OF
the weed
The Doctor says it Is notorious that sud
den excess OF indulgence IN alcohol induces
some form OF acute mental arrangement or
stupor, and be thinks that graduated ndulg-
ence is we'll nigh as certain to entail confirmed
condition. Of chronic alteration, more or less
This will give but small comfort
% the class Of so-called moderate drinkers.
De believes the tendency Of alcoholic agents is.
IS rule, towards premature physical decay.
ind he has found their use to lead quite as
'erceptibly toward premature mental deteriora-
ion; also that the action OF intoxcants, where
egulaily taken, even in small doses, ultimately
1ert mischlevous influence on the structural
arts OF the body; that the sense OF muscular
nd mental fatigue is rendered easy of devel-
pement; that the nutritive function is apt to
utter, and, IN many organisations, rapidly and
atally; that the craving increases as the ami
lal powers decline, and thus the drift towards
is greatly quickened that, in
10 eaily stages or injury from the stltnulant.
hat are known as the craving and the sinking :
eriods are quite distinct; but that they grad
ally approach, and in the end become almost e
&
As respects the lower animals, DIR. Richard =
N says that no living beings escape either the /
imediate, or the remote effects Of alcohol, i
hen the changes occasioned by it are repeated.
at chloroform, chloral hydrate and absynthe
'ssess similarly wide scope OF action that. q,
the other hand, tobacco is less extended IN -
range, the goat for instance, being able to =
nsume the weed with impunity: and that
seons will practically live upon opium. The
':tor suggests that some form o, decompcsi-
N OF the tozical agent is produced In the
dies OF such animals. . ...r
DIR. Richardson advocates total abstipence
disputes the soundness OF the view that all
ilized society is an artificial organism. and
It exceptional conditions call for exceptional
assures OF stimulative or palliative kind
rebuts the idea that a man who caunot (
ep, owing to care and anxiety, may find in
um the soporifc that he needs, or that be
cannot finish, by his own natural powers,
tain amount Of work against time viii be
to recruit his energies by stimulants He
lies that men who, by recourse to dangerous
entives, are throwing their lives behind them :
ast as they can, do more or better work
n those who are content to labor without +.
enttious aid. And from the experience of ii.
man, and the ability which be has brought p4
lis investigation, there is no doubt that his
'hngs are the words of wisdom.
f. .ff--------------i -s-s- -
ss Louisa Rymer has carried off a chess St
o OF the Birkbeck Literary and Scientific q,