Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1885-01-15

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 choral
lists in December, 1873. Ny 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 1 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 zone last biggish dose"
as he said he would. ..to anticipate the
inevitable. i had been for some
months assistant to a railroad engineer
in Pennsylvania He was one of those
men who work their assistants as
they would a tired horse, so was kept
at it very hard and close all day. only I
had the nights TO myself. 1 sustained
about this time a loss which caused me
good deal of grief. and this, combined
with the irksomeness of nv duties, be-
gan to tell upon me so far that I suf-
fered sieeplessness. so that at times
could get no rest till far into the morn
ing hours. and being deprived of suf-
ficient sleep. I 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 INV en-
ployment- But one fine morning, in
reading q medical Journal, 1 came
across the letter of a practitioner who
was loud in his praises of hydrate of
choral. How web / remember the
words: Produces sleep almost instan-
taneously-the sleep is pleasant and
dreamless awakes in the morn
ing fresh and clear-brained, with no
headache, and merely little whitening
of the tongue; no after effects.
'.Eureka,n 1 cried; this very night I
shall be Tapped in Elysium." l was
Tapped accordingly. 1 took twenty
grains of choral and slept like a stone
till morning, Overjoyed with the sue
cess of my experiment. repeated the
dose next night, and every night for
week, after which / tired one night
without, but found was entirely I'M
able to sleep, and so had recourse to
my draught about three in the morning.
Six weeks went past, and although as
yet 1 had felt no illness from the
choral. still had my misgivings, and
resolved that would give it up some
of these DAYS. One thing, however,
which / observed was, that on awaken
ing in the morning i felt as if actually
no space OF time had interviewed
since lay down. Ny life seemed
continuous, never-ending day.
had no satisfaction from my
sleep, and felt dispirited in conse-
quence- If 1 had only taken warn
ing then! 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 choral never
fails to produce. About two months
after 1 had begun taking choral /
first became sensible of strange heat
on the top of my head, together with
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 1 ought to say
that had no suspicion it was the hy-
drate of choral that was doing me
all the mischief. / was treating nv
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. NV 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. / i
marked in the glass my thin. /
worn face. and the gathering wrinkles. |
and waited and waited for death. j
Had l died now, or at any time dur /
ing my illness, 1 should have died /
with my finger on my pulse counting
even the last beat. Ny sufferings were
now increased by periodic attacks of |
tic doloureux of very distressing
character, and my remedy was more |
choral. A strange thing was that /
could never bear any allusion to nv
illness Although l felt sure 1 was dy-
ng, kept the secret secure in my own
breast, and made every effort to seem
we'll in the street by walking quicker
han my strength would permit. and
'efusing even the aid of my cane. /
lad friends and relations who would
gladly have come to see me, but never
wen told them that 1 was alive; / pre-
erred death among strangers.
1t is the end of June-the air is beau
iful but hot. / crawl down to the sea-
'ide and lie for hours sheltered from
he sun by a BUSH This is the only
lime in the day / have the slightest
reedom from pain and misery Ex-
,epting this solitary walk, it is months
ince have been able to go out or
leep any company. [ am constantly
'eading or thinking, trying, as the
Germans say, to solve the.infinite."
Ny constant prayers had been that /
night either get slowly well or speedily
lie. Hope deferred maketh sick the
oul, and all faith in prayer has gone.
md all belief in religion and revela-
ion. Sometimes / even doubt the ex-
stence of a Supreme Being Himself.
Ny bodily sufferings are very great,
md my mind is a mere chaos. Nv face
5 so thin and white and worn that I
tart at my own image in the glass. Nv
yes are constantly dilated. and the
east excitement runs NV pulse from .
ixty to one hundred Toward evening
nv head feels as If frozen, and / sit in q
,enumbed stupor until bedtime. I'm
ressing feel is one of the labors of
HERCULES, and has to be done by de-
.rees. do not take my chloral-three
rams, enough to kill as many men
ntil 1 am in bed and the house per i
ectly still. for the slightest noise would
ecessitate double dose. When all is :
uiet, drink and
Three months more have passed /;
way. After my friends death / made :
trenuous efforts to reduce my dose of !
hloral, and continued the same for T
,ore than a month What NIGHTS nf !,