Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1889-03-06
WOMEN WHO EAT TEA.

WOMEN WIZ EAI tEA. =
Discovery of a New and Dangerous vico
Reported from Boston.
Two servants who were hauled up
before police. justice here the other
day charged with creating rumpus,
Indignantly denied having been drunk.
They said that they had been some-
what under the influence of tea, which
was responsible for their eccentric be-
havior.
But, remarked the Judge, "Inever
knew that any one could become really
intoxicated from drinking tea"
mo more they can, yer Honor" was
the reply 1--WE ate it."
It is becoming quite popular vice
in Boston. and presumably elsewhere
this tea eating. And, curiously
enough, it's victims are mostly found
among the ''help," who, having the
household tea-caddy always accessi-
BILE, get accustomed to helping them.
selves from it. a pinch at a time, of
the dry leaves. These they chew,
thus extracting the allsaloid, which is.
a toxic agent of most powerful de-
Iscription. It's first effect is no agree
able exhilaration. Ultimately it In
duces sleeplessness and an abnormal
condition of mind, with strange wishes
and delirium. 1t is an amusing fact,
by the way, that when tea was first
brought to England, about the year
1865, it was served experimentally for
eating in a bowl. like spinach. For a.
long time after that it was regardedaas
a deadly drug, and people who sold it
were considered disreputable.
1t is positively wonderful how the
demand for new and particularly de-
structive vices gives birth to an appar-
emily exhaustless supply. One in par.
ticular that is said to be, making
great progress among women is the
habit Of ether drinking. This chemical
product, SO well known for it's virtues
as an an9sthetic, is an ethereal
spirit of alcohol, containing that ele-
ment of alcohol which has the effect of
deadening pain. Most people have
had opportunities of observing this eff
feet in drunken men, who suffer Sc
we're hurts without feeling them, ap-
parently.
Ether, taken internally, produces a
feeling of exaltation, which is not fol-
lowed by the disagreeable after-sym p.
toms arising from overindulgence in
the crude whisky or other spirits. Its
results are slower, affecting the mind
by slow degrees and depriving the VIC
tim of all moral sense. The confirmed
ether-drinker will murder her own
grandmother, without so much as
qualm of conscience, to get fifty cents
wherewith to purchase bottle of her
favorite intOxicant.
In its effects upon the moral being,
ether bears a strong likeness to opium,
which might be called poison for the
soul. The use of this latter drug is
said to be fearfully prevalent among
the wives of New England farmers,
who devote the pennies they earn by
selling eggs-always the private per-
quisite of the country women in this
region-to secret purchases of the
deadly stuff from itinerant peddlers.
One woman in small rural communi-
ty will spread the vice among all her
female friends, who, wearied by the
endless monotony of their lives, are
eager for any excitement.
The experienced eye can detect the
habitual eater of opium by an uncer-
tainty of gait, a sallowness of skin, and
other symptoms. 1t is likely that the
sallow complexion and weakly appear
ance SO universal among the Chinese
one sees are due to this cause.
Everywhere throughout that part of
China which is familiar to travellers
the fields of rice are checkered with
wide areas of growing peoples, the
seeds of which the natives steep to
make an Intoxicating liquor. This is
the most primitive method of consum-
ing opium. For commercial uses it is
gathered by cutting open the poppy
seed heads with a knife. leaving the
gum to exude. Ropes, held taut, are
then dragged across the tops of the
plants by pairs of laborers, and the
gum sticks to the hempen strands,
from which it is subsequently taken
and packed for sale. The people of
the far-away mountain region in China,
where opium is unknown-particularly
in the rugged North-are big. strong
and healthy. Letter.
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Crystallzed Gypsum and Mica.
Gypsum is. chemically considered, q