St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1888-12-01
-FOUR C0CAINES, Sir.
Slaves of Drugs Who Live
Lives Of Horrible Tor
tuPe.
Morphine and the Hold 1t
Gets Upon the Human
System.
The Syringe Of Pravaz and
It's Use by Morphine
@'as Maniaes.
Cocaine and It's Sad Effect
Upon the Morals and
Virtue.


The morphine habit has been one of
the ghosts that has haunted the civiliz-
alton of this age, much to its shame, but
there Were hopes that IL would become
less common Ill time OR that legal meas
ufeS would crash it ont. The hope has
persisted now, it seems, for ingenuity
and inventive genius, recognizing it as
an established vice. have sought to
make its indulgence less repuisive to
ihe finer senses and more convenient.
They are gliding the sin. thus adding
new charms to TINS seductive viper, and
smoothing its pathway to victory over
the body, mind and morals of the
times. \ Frenchman by the name of
2'ravaZ has invented new syringe,
which has rapidly found its way
to all parts of the civilized world,
and some of them have been brought
here. 4 few days. ago these morphine
lnaDiacS," as they are named. had no
alternative but to absorb their favorte
liquid through the mouth, and taken in
this way it left a bitter taste and Often
produced nausea. Later the ordinary
syringe was used for bypodermic in
Jections. but this, in its turn, seems to
have given place to the newer invention
OF Pravaz, which, though bearing his
alane, has been perfected by many I'M
known hands. The syringe has now
such a sale that it is said that an agent.
who has lately established himself in
one of the richest quarters of Paris, can
scarcely fill the orders which he re-
ceiYeS. The persons coming to his shop
the fine gentlemen, the great ladies'
form Il literal procession. They stop
their carriages q few doors be-
Yond. OF Il few doors in the
rear. but they themselves come to make
their purchases and to take them away,
Tor they have still a sufficient sense of
shame to make them object to giving
1heir true names and addresses. 10
please these fastidious customers the
syringe is made in an especially dainty
manner. 1t is either of gold or silver.
and is slilIfuily concealed i'll some arti-
Gle Of luxury. On this point NJ.
Reynard, a saVant, has given
some interesting information at a
c0rding to him the ordinary syringe,
difficult TO use or TO hide, is entirely out
of fashion, except with those lovers of
morphine who are past all shame, and
they are few. Fhe generality amuse
themselves by seeing bow far it is pos
Sible to indulge their favorite habit
without its beng discovered by the I'M
initiated. One sees tdem take from their
pocket a match box, 4 cigar case or
some tiny object in silver, but who
would suspect that these pretty bibelots
contain microscopic bottle of NOR
phine and syringe So prepared that
the owner can apply it to his arm OF his
leg in an instant. But what is even
more strange than the construction of
the syringe is that these bibelots are
now used as presents. They are sent
10 morphine maniacs on New
Years day as one would send a
basket of flowers Or a box Of
marrons glaceS. And some persons go
so far as to have engraved upon them
the arms or the monogram OF the friend
for whom they are destined. Is it pos
sibie to commit manslaughter more
elegantly?
THE PEOPLE WHO Buy.
''But are there so many morphine
maniacS' in this country that there
can be profit in importing such goods?'
is naturally asked. Unfortunately,
yes. The world at large can scarcely
comprehend how great a number of
people are addicted to the use of such
drugs as morphine, cocaine, gum and
powdered opium and laudanum. Every
drug Store has its regular customers,
and many of them sell enormous quanti-
ties OF the drugs. Give morphine ma
MAC Il dose of his favorite drug when
he IS suffering torture from the lack of
it. and no sooner has he swallowed it
than he experiences the relief he
sought. Long before it has had time to
act upon his system he is satisfied, be-
cause. his irritated Imagination is
SoOthed.
1t is difficult for the physician who is
treating even a patient who wishes to
bc cured to gain any hold upon them
because the victims of morphine, CO.
Caine and opium lose all moral sense,
all regard for the truth and all honesty.
both of purpose and action. Cocaine is
particularly destructive of morality,
and the case of a young girl in this city
may be cited in proof. She was given
q hypodermie Injection of cocaine by a
physician, and from that moment
was a cocaine drnnkard. She secretly
used the drug to great excess and her
Samlly found it out only when search
ing for the cause of the remarkable
change that had taken place in her
7ithi;i three weeks. She had been
sweet, modest, reticent girl, but in so
short time she had become & liar, a
thief aad used the most revolving Ian
guagc. She finally had to be sent to an
asylum, where fortunately she died.
When her body was brought home there
appeared in the papers statement that
she had been killed in an accident
Cocaine is only used hypGdermically.
and there are not so many habitual
users of il as Of the other light drugs.
partly because it is comparatively new
and partly because the sensations it
produces are not SD pieaSuFaD!e.
THE DRUGS AS NECESSITIES.
That these drugs are necessities to
those who have been accustomed to
their use is shown by the fact that the
users of them will 90 to any length to
obtain them. One cold day last winter
a woman who was we'll known in St.
Paul at one time slipped into q drug
Store and tried to obtain NOR
phne by leaving her fur cloak
as security for the account.
Another case is that of the son Of
prominent man here who used NOR
phine until he died. and though
wealthy, and always provided with
money. he would stand behind
the prescription case Of a druggist,
with whom he was Oh intimate terms,
and when the druggist Turned his back
nc would steal morphine from the bottle,
lie was caught several times and made
to nay for what he had taken, but his
detection never seemed tn make him
ashamed. 1t has not been very long
since young man with q tine face we'll
dressed and presenting all the appear
anceS Of a gentlemen, was brought into
police station 0n tie charge that
few hours before he had stolen a book
from a street stand. He had snatched
il and run. but the dealer seeing him
again had him arrested. He cred pitt
fully and said that 10 had never been
arrested before and he hoped The officers
would not lock him up. The sergeant
asked him Why he had stolen the book