Western liberal. (Lordsburg, N.M.) 1887-1919, 1889-09-06
THE MoRPH1A F1BND.

!
habit, which is apparently growing
among the community at an alarming
rate, and causing devastation to body and
soul in a degree which can only beestimat-
ed and realized by those who have the
misfortune to witness its effects upon the
unfortunate creatures addicted to it's use.
lmanginc (says the writer an instru-
ment about the size Of pencil case, con-
strTcted somewhat after the model Of
wasp's sting, and fitting into tiny case
which will 60 with ease in the muff, the
waistcoat pocket, or the bosom of the
dress. The instrument itself may be Of
gold, and the case may be fashioned like
lewery scent bottle or other triuket, and
hang suspended from golden chatelaine
with the most ihnocuous arr This is the
ini ctor, and a slight punctuation Of the
skin with the waspish point is sufficient to
enable the required quantity of the magic
liquid to be discharged into the system.
Nor is the term magic an .exaggeration,
for not more magical was the OBJECT pro-
duced by the pills which TIE travellers
swallow, d in the cave of Monte Crlsto
] than that which results from the injection
of morphia. 1t must be, however, observ-
ed here that there are three distinct stages
1t morphia absorption, all of them brief
in duration, the last one briefest of all.
During the Grst stage the results are
purely peasurable, they bring draught
Of iresL life into jaded limbs. The facul-
ties receive sudden stimulus, the calous
sense of pleasure is sensitive once more,
the vision OF the world cast on the mental
eye is drawn in rosy lines, the whole ap-
precaiion of things earthly is that of one
who ia prepared to dram the cup Of life to
he bottom and enjoy it to the full. The
subject lives in glamorous sense Of vague
happiness, her hai-closed eyes reveal the
state Of exquisite lasstude which laps her
limbs, she feels that her enemy is exerton,
she is too happy to trouble about any
thing, all that she asks is that her friends
should be happy around her even as she is
happy. Her hold on eternity loosens as
her desire for it decreases. "Why take
thought for the morrow" would run her
new reading of the text, Sufficient for
the day is the happiness thereof"
In time, however, change comes DER
the spirit of this rose-colored dream. It's
continuity becomes broken by dreadful in
tervals Of reaction, during which the vic
tim Is oppressed by all the horrors of in
tense melancholy and weakness, aud flom
which relief can only be obtained by con-
inual repetition of the process of injection.
] The baneful habit acquires frmer hold
by counter-irritaticns. 1t Is so easy to
drive away the blue devils that are max
ing themselves apparent, 10 check the re-
action which has begun to set in, to
change the dark shadows which are cloud
ing over the vision OF life into the rain
bow hues OF the morning, to transform
the victim of melancholy, the prospective
suicide into the laughing child of pleasure
whose creed is that of the half pagan Leo
K, Let us enjoy what God has given
us. So easy y-but only by constant use of
the fatal drug; and as the former slight in
jectors have lost their power, larger doses
Of the stimulant must be launched INTO
the system before the desired effect can be
produced
The result, however, of the increase of
the quantity injected is to develop the feel
ing Of lassitude until IN tlme-such a brief
periodl-it completely overpowers the
senses, and the victim becomes practically
lost to the world. She lives in a rose-col-
ored world of her own, in which happiness
regins supreme and which she would not
leave if she could; for her re-entry into the
life she has forsaken can only be accom-
plished by passing through period of in.
tense mental and bodily torture. She
knows that she is slowly dying, that she is
slipping to extinction in a souless, mechan-
ical way, like a clock which inevitably
runs down when its motive power is ex.
haustedi but her appreciation of abstract
ideas has become blurred; life has lost its
meaning death its terrors Better it Is,
she thinks, so far as she compares her con-
ditioh at all, to fade slowly and happily
out of life without a-thought or care to
checker the last brief period of existence
than to face the struggle by which alone
she could be saved. Indeed, it is doubtful
whether, even if she could be kelt by
force from the use of the stimulant, she
would not feel its loss so acutely that she
would die in horrible agonies almost as
quickly.
BY curious perversion. therefore, of
the original object, it has been reserved
for modern science to bring into existence
and use the dream of the ancient poets
the drug which conferred happiness un-
cheekered and unalloyed. Were it possl-
BILE, however, to analyze the mental condi-
ton of the victim during the hours of re-
action, it might be possible to .ralize also
the tortures of the damned in the mediae-
val hell