Eureka daily sentinel. [volume] (Eureka, Nev.) 1871-1887, 1884-05-09
THE OPIUM HABIT.

No one who has read the Confessions
of an Opium Eater will ever forget the
terrible thraldom that for years, years
that to him seemed centuries, kept one
of the brightest lights of English litera-
ture in a state of continual torment, from
which he finally freed himself, if in truth
he ever did, only after ong-protracted
struggles, alternate seasons OF despair
and backsliding, Of the sternest deter
mination and acutest suffering. 1t is a
sad reflection that there are in the United
States thousands, perhaps tens OF thou
sands of people, to whom life is misery,
and to whose sin-burdened, morbldly
sensitive conscience even death promises
slight relief. 1t is still more sad to know
that the thraldom of the terrible drug is
felt widely on the Pacific Coast. In this
very town of Eureka we see slaves to
the distressful habit, who have not the
strength to assert themselves and throw
off the weight that presses them down
forever towards a certain and horrible
death.
In view of this, we call attention to a
paper read by DIR. Asa P. Meylert before
the Harlem Medical Association (pub-
lished by Putnam's Son's), in which the
experience OF a practicing physician Is
given regarding the terrible effects which
follow the use of the drug, accompanied
with suggestions for treatment. The
opium habit, DR.. Meylert says, is almost
invariably charged by the patient upon
some physician who prescribed an ano'
dyne, years before. to relieve pain.
He gives instance upon instance OF
mothers, daughters, fathers and hus-
bands who found a quick relief from
suffering in a physicians prescription,
and who resorted to the cure
whenever the ailment required, until the
habit became fixed, and the patient suf-
fered a thousand pangs for every one
which the drug had relieved. "The
first prescription" says DR.. Meylert,
''truly acts like a charm upon the patient
whose nervous organization is impaired.
He well remembers how it smoothed his
pillow, changed the hard bed beneath
him to softest down, closed his weary
eyelids, and whispered dreams of con-
tentment and peace. But the enchant-
ress is now changed to a dragon, which
holds him under a magic spell. He
finds himself a captive, unable to escape
from his prison house. He tries again
and again, Intellectually. If ever a poor
soul needed help, he does, and that
quickly" But the mind, deprived of its
natural strength, has no rower to rebel.
The sufferer is only strong when under
the influence of the drug. When the
exhilarating effects have passed away, he
is weak, dispirited, and depressed. If
he denies himself his daily dose he is
seized with the greast nervousness and
distress. Frightful dreams torment his
sleep. His waking moments are enter
mites. He is burned with fever, chilled
by cold and tortured by neuralgia. At
last, poor human nature can stand it no
longer and peace and bliss are purchased
by another dose. But, unlike most
other stimulants, the same doses never
produce the same results. A little more
is constantly required to produce the de-
sired exhilaration. Efforts to reduce the
amount, or ever to continue on a fixed
allowance, result in failure. The total
deprivation of the drug DIR. Meylert re-
CARDS as cruel and Intellectual. He rec
ommends restraint and gradual diminu-
ton of the dose, together with a tonic
treatment and hot baths. "If there is
any antidote," he says (which will, by
its administration, allow the total and
instant cessation of morphia, without
pain, / do not know it." The evil is one
that is spreading rapidly, and there is
scarcely a part of the country where the
miserable victims of the habit are not
found, their own lives a wreck, andthe lives
of all about them made miserable. The
evil will soon become as great a one as
the alcohol habit, if it is not so already,
and how to remedy it will challenge the
most earnest efforts and the most care
full research of the medical profession.