Northwest enterprise. [volume] (Anacortes, Wash. Ter.) 1882-1887, 1882-10-28
ONE WAY OF INroxICATIoN.
The Alarming Extent to which the Hypoder-
mic Syringe is Nov Employed.


''There are one hundred hypoder-
mic syringes sold now for each one
that found a purchaser few years
ago." said dealer in surgical instru-
ments few mornings since, leaning
over his showcase, full of cleaning
tools. People have discovered that
they are not only of great service in
thu alienation of extreme pain, such
as sciatica, for instance, but that they
afford a convenient sort of respectable
intoxication, to speak more politely.
Good young men the kind of young
men VINO would look with horror
upon glass of honest whisky, and
would not for worlds be seen enter
ing a barroom-are very frequently
slaves to this peculiarly insidious
and deadly phase of the opium habit.
And it seems practically impossible
to awaken to a consciousness of It's
inevitably ruinous consequences one
who becomes addicted to it. The
drunkard and the opium eater, or
laudanum dripker, are much easier of
reformation than the person who gets
accustomed to throwing few drops
of morphia under his skin,
II can tell those who are devotees
of the habit when l meet them in the
street Only yesterday morning a
young man rushed in here, excited,
in great haste, trembling like leaf
in the wind | knew at a glance
what he wanted, and had the case
open before he could control his quiz
ering jaws enough to say, 'Pve broken
the needle of my hypodermic
syringe. l want it fixed, and won't
you please lend me one quickly for a
few moments, and give me the use OF
your private room for a minuteP
handed it to him. He darted into the
back room, and in few minutes came
back again, calm, smiling and steady.
He had had his dose. Meanwhile |
replaced has broken needle with a
sound one, for which he paid. and
carefully pocketing it, he strobe out
without sign OF the intense nerv-
BUSINESS from which he was suffering
when he entered
IF you have never seen a NOR
phine victim of this class in the nerv-
Gus agonies consequent upon temper
airy deprivation Of the drug, you can
have no idea of how they suffer.
Many young men have told me that
they were in the habit of taking three
four or even five hypodermic injec.
tons of morphine every day, and
even had to take them at night to get
sleep. OF course, when the habit Is
once formed, the dose must be con
stantly increased, or else made more
frequent for the same results to be
obtained. Women buy a great many
of these instruments. Generally
they get into the habit of using them
through naturalization with the treat
ment by physicians for mitigation OF
pain. One lady l know of, had a
violent attack of sciatica, which, as
you may, or may not, know, hurts worse
than thousand toothaches at once
and her family physician gave her n
hypodermic injection of morphine,
which afforded instant relief. But
it is not cure, merely an alienation
and had to be repeated three or foul
times every day. 1t took the doctor
about two minutes, and he charged
81 each time. After week or so, as
she got to be a good, steady, and
trustworthy source of revenue, he re
duced his rate to 81. Even that
however, was more than the hus,
bands resources could stand, so he
came to me for advice and bought 6
syringe. / showed him how to use
it. Now, although the woman has
got well of the sciatica, she keeps uI
the morphine practice find. it a ne
cessity of her existence, and her legs
her husband tells me, are pitted al
over with the marks of the application
/ don't suppose she ever will or car
give it up. Yes, thelmarks are ineradica
Bile.
TO administer the injection, you
rake up a bit of the skin between
your finger and thumb, jab the needl,
in and squirt away. 1t does not hurt
at all, not as much as poking a needle
into skin not pinched that way would,
but care must be exercised to throw the
solution to just the proper depth, OF
else it is likely to produce hideous
ulcers, difficult to cure. Well. each
of these jabs leaves little, hard cal
loused-like lump. / would rather, il
/ had wife, that she should take to
the cologne bottle than to the hypo-
dermic syringe for her exhilaration
Il suppose [ sell on an average al
least one of these syringes every day
and some days four or five. Then
they are sold by number Of other
surgical instrument dealers, and by
all the first class drug stores. Why
here is the best evidence of the mag
nitude of the popular demand fol
them-the various styles in which
they are gotten up. Here is one, an
imported article from France, that
cost so in silver plated case, with
finely made syringe, an extra needle
wires to keep IN the needles when
not in use to prevent their clogging
tiny bottle to hold the morphine
and all in form convenient for the
pocket. Here is another, of similar
construction and fewer appliances,
but equally effective, that sells for
81 80. There are none cheaper than
this latter, but there are much more
expensive ones than the former, got
ten up in gold and finished like
Jewels. The manufacture rs make
them Of gold, silver, baser metal, hard
rubber, celluloid and glass. In all
tho pripoipIa ;c Tho copoao <;pv