Oxford Democrat. [volume] (Paris, Me.) 1833-1933, 1881-11-08
me Easeis Of Demonstrating.

tributed to Hayper's Weekly some inter
esting and instructive details Of the
extent and nature of opium-smoking
among Americans, has made public
additional data respecting the subject,
which will 90 far toward removing GER
tain popular and widespread miscon-
ceptions Of the fancied delightful
effects Of the practice. The subject is
one, the physician says, which is but
little understood by the general public,
their ignorance being strikingly mani
tested in the prevalent opinion that the
influence OF the drug is to produce
sleep combined with condition Of
utopian happiness. That the opium
smoker. in his indulgence, iancies him
self wealthy, possessed Of great fame
or the companion and associate OF the
great is simply pleasant delusion with
90 foundation in fact. His dreams
simply reflect tie character OF his nor
NAL aspirations aud desires, although
these will seem to find brilliant reali-
zation which is only dashed when con-
seriousness returns. Further, Il is found
TO be rarity that sleep succeeds indul-
gence in tho drug, the effest of the
practice being rather TO produce an
insomnia Of which the votary will con-
stantly complain. What the smoking
actually promotes in the beginner is
condition OF dreamy wakefulress, dur
ing which he feels entire congentment
merely fancying himself on smicable
terms with everybody and everything,
aud willing, on his part, to carry out to
the letter the kindly preeepts Of the
golden rule. The future teems TO
promise the continuance oftho content
ment OF the present, the sensation be-
ing, in short, that expressed by the dolce
fr misn.s languor Of the Italians.
When the effect Of the drug dies away
and the dream fades. the smoker, unless
his indulgence has been excessive, will,
on recovering complete consciousness,
experience feeling OF eIhilaration,
and will resume his normal occupation
with vim and eagerness. This pleasant
condition, however, is only incident
upon q moderate indulgence and in the
earlier stages OF the vicious habit. II
tho opium be smoked in excessive guam
titles the smoker nay at times fall into
deep sleep, but that slumber will be but
fightful nightmare, peopled with
disgusting and terrifying visions, par
ticularly il the excess is practiced by a
novice. The mind will become tempo
rarily unsettled and filed with the
widest decisions, the heart will be
labored in It's action, and painful and
profuse nausea and vomiting, succeeded
by extreme prostitution. will follow.
The duration OF pleasant sensations OF
the early stages OF indulgence depends
upon the temperament OF the votary
and the amount OF the drug CONSUMED.
Generally. after few months, these
feelings OF e1hilaratiou and contented
languor disappear, and the indulgence
is continued by the unfortunate victim
chiefly 10 escape the suffering which is
the inevitable result Of his folly. il il
az this stage that the mental injury OF
the practice is felt in al ever-increasing
disinclina,ion for all mental labor, in
the weakening OF the will power, in the
falling memory and the gradual enact
alton OF the features, together with an
impairment OF the sight and whole
train OF physical ills, Of which dyspep-
sia and gradual paralysis OF some of the
vital organs are but few. DR.. Kane
believes all this, however, TO be i'm
measurably less OF moral and physical
evil than the effects OF chronic alcohol
ism, as the injury is always confined to
the victim himself. The confirmed
opium-smoker never beats his wife nor
destroys property, never shoots friend
or stabs an enemy, nor does he travel IN
a Keeling and disorderly fashion through
the streets, to fall, it may be, insensible
in the filth o; the gutter and thence into
the custody OF the law. Constant mar
co,ic intoxication is less rapid in its de-
structiye effects than alcoholic inebriety,
and in some instances its victims remain
stout and in apparent health, although
they may have smoked the drug for a
period OF from two to ten years.