Daily globe., 1883-08-26
The Seductive Choiras.

Everybody is familiar with the abuse of
opium ln its various forms, from the fash
lona6le victim who is q slave to the hy-
podermic needle, to the degraded outcast
seeking forgetfulness in the Chinese opium
''Jolnt" Of hasheesh or Indian hemp,
little Is heard, the victims of this drug
beng comparatively few III this country,
though its use is common enough III India
and the east generally. But there is an
other drug for some time after its discovery,
some htteen years ago, considered COM
paratlvely harmless, and which is just
beginning to receive the attention its bale
tul effects merit, This is hydrate of
choral. well-known physician of New
York City, in speaking on this subject,
said: "Chloral hydrate stands first in the
list of hypnotics, and to overcome pure and
simple sleeplessness is without rival.
When it first came into use much was ex-
pected which experience has failed to verify.
1t Is not to any extent an anodyne; it is
simply the best hypnotic known, and the
most deadly. The OPIUM habit is easily
acquired; indeed, to some temperaments
It's cautious medicinal use is perllous, from
the readiness with which the drug is re-
sorted to in every trifing illness and the
fatal habit formed. But it needs no bitter
season of pain and suffering to become
haoltuated to the use of choral So softly,
So gently, so gradually does its subtitle,
fatal chain bind It's victim that he only
realizes It's power when too late to break
the bonds which bind him Chloral is
resorted to for an ordinary attack of in
somnla, and perhaps small doses are taken
for few days, the result being a sound,
refreshing sleep with none of the evil re-
suits common to other narcotics The
period of sIeeplessness past, which may be
the result Of overwork, business anxiety.
or nervous prostration, the drug is aband-
oned and all goes we'll for time Sooner
or later sleeplessness returns, choral is
resorted to, kept up for a longer time and
taken IN larger doses, 1t is again aband-
oned for longer time, only to resume it's
sway, and SO slowly and surely tho habit
Is formed that renders sleep impossible
without chlOral, which like all narcotics.
must be increased in quantity as the sys-
tenn becomes habituated to its poisonous
effects. The larger class of victims of the
choral habit are men who lead sedentary
lives and who from temperament and the
nature of their work are peculiarly liable
to suffer from sleeplessuess. One of the
most notable examples of the baneful
O-A~O~S
Gabriel Rosetti, who, during the latter
years of his life, was accustomed to take
enormous doses, reaching total of nearly
$50 grains daily. For many years he took
choral regularly, at first in small quantities
but gradually increased the dose until
his power of resistance was gone. His life
was darkened by power he fought against
IN vain. His latter days were spent in
solitude. He became q recluse and hy-
pochondriac, filed with groundless fears
for himself, cherishing unfounded sus-
picions against his bast friends and ad-
mirers. DR.. Maudsley, the great English
ailenist, stigmatized choral as ''crystalized
he'll" and condemns its use, even in disease,
excepct to tide over soma pressing emer-
gency, and there is certainly an increasing
reluctance on the part of physicians to
prescribe chloral except in exceptional
cases. Unlike opium, there are, as rule,
no unpleasant effects, no reaction follow
ing the use of choral. 1t simply produces
sleep, or the best possible imitation of
dreamless rest, with no headache or sick
ness as reminder that the slumber has
been purchased and the debt must be paid
for. 1t is paid later on, and the interest
demanded is health, hope, and often life
itself.'