Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1886-08-22

charm of extreme delicacy. Her eyes
were large and liquid, and her complex
ion exquisite. she had a soft voice. her
words were uttered as sweetly and dls-
tinctly a. the notes OF an Andreas canary.
Her wit flashed like the scintillatiOns OF
: diamond, and she was the life OF the
southern end of the table. everybody
was charmed by her intellectual radl-
ance. The conversation eddied suddenly
10 another quarter. The Brooklyn lady
essayed a remark that died away as
( though frozen on her lips. l looked at
her IN establishment. All her elan had
gone. The lustre had fed from her
eyes. The roseate lids were partly
closed, and her face was as pale as ala
4 baster. She seemed to be going into
/ trance. A peal OF merriment at the other
! end Of the table had attracted the atten-
! ton of the guests. Her husband saw my
I gaze rivetted upon his wife. Leaning to-
4 ward me he murmured:
May beg your good offices for mo-
ment? Oblige me and be so kind as TO
| steady nv wife"
! He was as cool and collected as though
! in his own drawing room. | took the
lady by the arm, and placed my hand on
her waist, fancying that he wished me TO
assist her in leaving the table. But no.
He had drawn from the inside pocket OF
his dress coat a small hypodermic syringe.
He drove its point between the meshes OF
the lace into her white arm. In an in
slant the syringe had done its work.
Within thirty seconds the large
eyes were again sparkling with
pleasure. The rich color re-
turned to her cheeks, and the fair crea-
ture was again sailing upon the sea OF
merrIment. She had more than regained
her former chic and gaiety. The husband
drew a sigh OF relief when he saw that be
had revived her without attracting at
tention. His wife was as witty as ever,
and she drank cOpious draughts OF wine,
apparently utterly impervious to its Ell
tects.
The explanation voHehsafed to me later
in the evening was hardly necessary. The
lady was slave TO the morphine habit.
1t was first acquired when the drug was
prescribed in sickness. The taste for NOR
phne thus developed, the lady for long
time supplied herself secretly from her
husbands medical laboratory. He dis
covered it too late to check her desire for
the drug. He tried to shut off the source
OF her supplies, but she outwitted him by
patronizing pharmacies in New York.
Its of no use," he said. bitterly.
"The habit is confirmed, and death alone
will stop it,"
Every drug store In the city is patron
lied more or less by the victims OF NOR
phine. When the habit becomes settled,
the weak mortal grows crafty and artful.
The drug is obtained at pharmacies far
away from mis- residence. He places the
powder on the palm OF his hand and laps
1t secretly. A drug store on Hudson
street has two regular customers. Both
come from above Fiftieth street, the buy
ers fancing that they are entirely I'M
known. The morphine is put up in what
are known among druggists as ''drachm
Walls" Each vial contains sixty grains.
One of the Hudson street customers con
sumes two or three walls a week. They
are always labelled "POison." The law
limits sales to these walls. Any one tax
ing the contents of two walls a week is
totally unfit for work. 1t takes two or three
years for the habit TO become chronic.
After that cure is utterly impossible.
The cost of vial is &c. Nothing eXhil-
crates the mind and the body like NOR
phine. Liquor thickens the utterance
and stupefies the brain. Morphine, on the
contrary, frees the tongue, and makes its
accent as distinct as the notes OF a we'll
played banjo. IL makes the brain bright
but insouciant. A veteran morphine taker
10 proof against all other stimulants.
Whisky and brandy do not intoxicate
him. He defies all drunkenness except
the intoXication produced by the drug.
His muscles gradually become filled with
the poison. Frequently pins and needles
ducing pain. When thoroughly saturated
with morphine the victim either dies or
attains an extraordinary size. No mat
ter how thin he NAV be, he begins to grow
fat. and In some cases is said to die of
suifOcation. The mind is usually shat
tered in advance Of the body.
These few facts l have learned from a
druggist who in a lifetime has known
many victims. He SAYS that the fate of
tina n0rnhin1 zloVa hnUoVor 10 mot mora
shocking than that of the confirmed taker
of chloroform. The taste for this anaes-
thetic is becoming as great as that for
morphine. Dissipation and nervous ten
sion both produce sleepless nights. To
WOO sleep chlOrOform is used.
"Hundreds in our large cities, y" said the
druggists, "saturate napkins and hand
kerchiefs with chlOroiOrm at night, and
fall alseep in breathing the fumes. 1t
was thus that Charles q. Halpine died
after weeks debauch, and it was thus
the son and heir of a once prominent mil
iionaire Congressman from Boston passed
away. The habit produces palpitation of
the heart. and in time the victim is sure
to be found dead In bed"
While | was conversing with this drug
gIst a pale but handsome Young woman
came In with prescription. She seemed
downcast and melancholy, but quickly
frightened up when the prescription was
filed. AS she passed out with hasty
step the proprietor tossed me the men,
orandum.
at is for morphine" he said, "and it is
undoubtedly bogus prescription. But
the poor girl is happy by this time.'
There are 1900 drug stores in this city.
On an average each one sells drachm
vial OF morphine IA day. This would in
dictate at least 5000 habtual morphine
takers in New York alone. Nearly 1000
OF these are women. Druggists will agree
that this estimate is under rather than
over reality. Place chloroform in the
same crucible, and we have 5000 misera-
BILE beings travelling the road to an insane
death.
AMOS j. CUMIINGs.