Barbour County index. [volume] (Medicine Lodge, Kan.) 1880-current, 1889-04-03
OPIUM AND AnrlpYRlN.
Women Who Arc Slaves to Habits which
Ruin Body and Mind.

Ruin Body and Mind.
cit is strange" said q popular pharma-
cist of Park row to New York correspond
ent of the st. LOUIS Globe Democrat, s'to
see how many women are 'fends.' OF
course. when say fends, do not mean
any thing peculiarly demonlac or suggestive
Of that sulphurous realm of which 30 much
Is said. lam only using an old term in the
pharmaceutical trade for people who get
into the habit of using some pernicious
drug.
"The commonest vice in this regard is the
opium habit. The number Of victims Of
this habit is far up in the thousands. Some
buy the crude gum, and eat it as regularly
as they take their daily meals. Others buy
laudanun, and drink it in quarter ounce,
half ounce and even ounce portions, accord
ing to the extent to which they are con-
trolled by the narcotic. Some, who have
keen palates and tender stomachs, can not
take laudanum, and use instead paregoric.
This ancient midwife's fsvorite is simply
sweet preparation Of opium fa-
tastes somewhat like the anisette or
kummel used in French and German res
taurants. Still others Of the same sort use
the infants soothing sirups, which quacks
put upon the market for the apparent bene-
1T but the eventual ruin of babies, and
which are 80 heavily spiced and favored
as to suggest French mixed candies rather
than any medicine. Outside of these are
the people who use Dover's powders and
morphine pills. Both of these, and es-
peciaHy the latter, act rapidly and are very
popular with opium fends who wake up in
the early morning with large and painful
heads. All of these opium hends are OBJ
iects Of pity. The habit seems more q
disease than a vice. AS it progresses, their
whole nature, physical, mental and moral,
seems to undergo a complete revolution.
At the first they slowly lose their appetites,
and then the eyes become preternaturally
bright. Soon the flesh begins to fall away,
and the space around the eyes becomes
dark from being surcharged with blood.
Next the skin loses its normal color and
changes to sodden gray, a blotched brown
or an unhealthy yellow. After this come
the strangest symptoms imaginable. In
the coldest day the victim perspires copi-
| ously and shivers at the same time. On the
other hand he complains of being frozen in
| mid August, when the thermometer is in
the nineties. Without the slightest cause
| he suddenly weeps and betrays all the
emotions of intense distress. When this
stage is reached he or she is a 'hend.'
eAnother habit" continued Dr. Perry,
"which comes under the druggists eyes is
the bromide habit which includes the ex-
cessive use of bromide of potassium, bro
mide Of ammonium and bromide of llthium.
''The bromide fend gradually develops an
abnormal condition Of the nerves, under
which sleep, or even comfort, is impossible
without constant use of the anodyne salts.
| Muscular and intellectual exertion grow
more and more difficult, until the habitue
gets into a semi-sleepy state, In which she
simply moves and vegetables rather than
lives.
1.-THE new coal-tar product. antipyrin, has
already started q vice of its own. This
singular compound was discovered by a
German chemist, and on account of its re-
markable qualities, is now used the world
over. It has the power of reducing the
temperature of the body by several de-
grees, and so is Of vast utility it treating
/ fevers and feverish stages of many
diseases. 1t does its work by depressing
the action of the heart, and generally when
employed by physicians it is accompanied
with digitalis to neutralize it's influence in the
latter regard. Women use 1t partly because
it Is a sedative and partly because it makes
the complexion beautifully clear and pale
by keeping the blood away from the surface
of the body. The habit, like all others,
grows upon the person who practices it.
1t does harm, however, from the first.
With women who are weak, it increases
their weakness; with those having a pre-
disposition toward heart disease Of any
sort, it increases the tendency to a terrible
extent. Besides these results, antipyrIn
exertS q peculiar influence upon the blood,
which is not thoroughly understood by the
faculty. It seems TO undergo some decompo-
sition or breaking dowE when absorbed by
the system, developing unknown COM
pounds which either attack the blood itself
or else powerfully influence the nerves and
ganglia which control the vital functions.
1.-TWO other habits, ;" said DR.. Perry, 'tare
much more common than Is generally be-
lieved, the use of chloral and Of cocaine prep.
Rrations. Both are terrific vices, while
the latter means physical and mental
ruin. ChloHal acts in peculiar way. 1t
4decomposes in the blood and changes to
chloroform, which in turn acts as an esthetic
within the body just the same as when in
haled. The 'chloral fend' can be detected
at glance. Her face assumes yelIowish
] or greenish hue that is unmlstakable; the
eyes become SATIRE or blood shot; the orbits
grow discolored; the breath assumes hor-
rible flavor; the appetite vanishes and the
nerves become disordered to the worst de-
gree. The cocaine fiend is beyond redemp-
ton. She lives in world Of dreams that
are shattered only when health departs and
reason vanlshes. She Is irresponsible and
deaf and blind 70 conscience and even de-
cency.
"There is one thing more which ought to
be said, and that is protest against the
senseless outcry Of how physicians start
these habits by careless prescriptions. Out
Of one hundred alleged cases which have
examined every one arose from the curios-
ity, folly or intrinsic viciousness Of the VIC
tim, and not one from q habit contracted
| while under medical treatment. The out
cry probably results from the fact that the
fiends obtain supplies Of their favorite
drugs upon physicians orders. To get these
recipes they adopt every expediency, They
pretend to have neuralgia or insomnia and
deceive the ablest doctors; they borrow pre-
scriptions which contain their particular
poison and make dozens of copies; they con-
suit chemists and obtain orders upon whole
sale druggists In fact, they exhaust hu-
man ingenuity in pandering to their depray.
| ity."
Mice and Their Tails.
FVyh. r.