Roseburg review. [volume] (Roseburg, Or.) 1885-1920, 1885-03-06

not prescribed BY medical men, but
taken as stimulants by the people them
seyes. Hydrate of ehIoral in every
shape-unless administered by the
hand of a skilful practitioners an
insidious and fatal poison. It is more
tempting than alcohol, more insinuat-
ing than opium. and more terrible in
its effects than either. An opium
eater, baneful though the practice is,
has been known to live to goodly old
age; no chloralist ever lasted over three
years.
A friend of mine-an intelligent
young man -and myself both COM
menced the practice of chloral-eating
at the same time. We became chloral-
lists in December, 1878. MY friend sue
cumbed in the following July. Unfor-
tunately. he did not find out till week
or two of the end that it was the new
drug that was doing him TO death, and
then believe it would have been too
late could he by any possibility
have given it up. But he did not and
could not, and what is still more sad, /
fear he took lone last biggish dose.
as he said he would, ito anticipate the
inevitable. y l had been for some
months assistant to railroad engineer
in Pennsylvania. He was one of those
men who work their assistants as
they would tired horse, so / was kept
at it very hard and close all day. only
had the nights to myself. / sustained
about this time loss which caused me
a good deal of grief, and this, combined
with the irksomeness of my duties, be-
gan to tell upon me SO far that | suf-
fered sleeplessness, so that at times I
could get no rest till far into the morn
ing hours, and being deprived of suf-
ficient sleep, / was naturally in poor
trim for the labors of the succeeding
day. 1t would have been well for me if
had now at once thrown up my en-
reading a medical journal, came
across the letter of a practitioner who
was loud in his praises of hydrate of
chloral. How well remember the
words: Produces sleep almost instan-
taneously-the sleep is pleasant and
dreamless-patient awakes in the morn
ing fresh and clear-brained, with no
headache, and merely little whitening
of the tongue; no after effects.
Eureka" | cried; ''this very night
shall be Tapped in Elysium.h l was
Tapped accordingly. | took twenty
grains of chloral and slept like stone
till morning, Oyerjoyed with the sue
cess of my experiment, repeated the
dose next night, and every night for a
week, after which I tried one night
without, but found / was entirely un-
able to sleep, and so had recourse to
my draught about three in the morning.
Six weeks went past, and although as
yet l had felt no illness from the
chloral, still | had my misgivings, and
resolved that I would give it up some
of these days. One thing, however,
which observed was, that on awaken
ing in the morning felt as if actually
no space of time had intervened
since l lay down, My life seemed
continuous, never-ending day.
had no satisfaction from my
sleep, and felt dispirited in conse-
quence. If | had only taken warn
ing theni But / did not, for this
same peevishness is the earliest symp-
tom of that coming irritability of
chronic congestion of the brain, which
the continuous use of chloral never
fails to produce. About two months
after had begun taking choral /
first became sensible of strange heat
on the top of my head, together with
| a sense of fullness in the head NV
nerves, too, began to be shaken, / could
do things slowly, but any hurry or ex-
| element at once confused me.
In justice to myself ought to say
that / had no suspicion it was the hy-
| 4 & nIx hot Il
all the mischief. | was treating my
self for brain congestion. / noticed
now that was losing flesh. Day after
day observed this in the glass; crows
feet began to appear about my eyes,
and wrinkles where never wrinkles
were before. My pulse, too. got more
and more thready. Even at this early
stage had very little hope of ever get
ting well, and so, day after day, /
marked in the glass my thin,
worn face, and the gathering wrinkles,
and waited and waited for death.
Had l d ed now, or at any time dur
ing my illness. | should have died
with my finger on my pulse counting
even the last beat. My sufferings were
now increased by periodic attacks of
tic doloureux of very distressing
character, and my remedy was more
chloral. A strange thing was that !
could never bear any allusion to my
illness. Although felt sure was dy-
ing, kept the secret secure in my own
breast, and made every effort to seem
we'll in the street by walking quicker
than my strength would permit, and
| refusing even the aid of my cane. ]
| had friends and relations who would
| gladly have come to see me, but never
/ even told them that | was alive; l pre-
ferred death among strangers.
1t is the end of June-the air is beau
tiful but hot. [ crawl down to the sea-
side and lie for hours sheltered from
the sun by a bush This is the only
time in the day I have the slightest
freedom from pain and misery. Ex-
cepting this solitary walk, it is months
since [ have been able to go out OF
keep any company. [ am constantly
reading or thinking, trying, as thu
Germans say, to ..solve the infinite. :
My constant prayers had been that
might either get slowly we'll or speedil,
die. Hope deferred maketh sick tn,
soul, and all faith in prayer has gone
and all belief in religion and revela
ton. Sometimes | even doubt the ex
istence of Supreme Being Himself
| My bodily suherings are very great
and my mind is mere chaos My fac,
is so thin and white ard worn that
start at my own image in the glass. M,
eyes are constantly dilated, and th,
least excitement runs my pulse from
sixty to one hundred. Toward evenin.
my head feels as if frozen, and / sit in
benumbed stupor until bedtime. Tn
i dressing feel is one of the labors O