News and citizen. [volume] (Morrisville, Vt. ;) 1881-current, 1889-03-07
PERNICIOUS DRUGS.
THE USE THAT MANY WOMEN
MAKE OF THEIR.
Opium, Laudanun and Morphine Re-
sorted to-The Habit More a Dis
ease than Vice-The Bromide
Habit.


ease than a Vice-The Bromide
Habit.
A writer in the Indianapolis Journal
bewails the number of women who are
''fiends"-that is, women who give
themselves up to the habit of using per-
nicious drugs-and goes on to say that
in large city there arc probably thous-
ands of women who indulge i'll some
such habit, the most common vice being
the opium habit. Some women buy the
crude gum and cat it regularly every
day, while others buy laudanum and
drink it i'll quartcr-ounce, haf-Ounce
and even ounce portions. Some delicate
stomachs cannot take laudanum, and so
paregoric is rcsortcd to, and soothing
syrups, that are put upon the market
for the ruin of babies, become also the
ruin of grown persons. And then there
are the Dover powders and morphine
pills, both of which act rapidly, cspec
tally the latter.
The habit seems moro n disease than
a vice, for the whole nature of the victim
undergoos Il complete revolution, moral,
mental and physical. Tho first symp-
tom is loss Of appetite, and then the eyes
become prcterna:urally bright. The
flesh begins to fall away, and the space
around the eyes becomes dark from be-
ing sl1rcharged with blood; the skin
loses its normal color and changes to Il
sodden gray, n blotuhcd brown OF an I'M
healthy yellow. And then the victims
SILVER and pcrspirc at the same time,
and are easily moved to tears. When
II. I
of cure. They must and will have the
drug, and will resort to any device to
procure it. They are extremely cunning
and ingenious in their methods for OBJ
tanning the drug, and i'll conccaling the
fact of their having 1t from their friends
OF relatives, even when most closely
watched. Physicians tell many curious
stories of how their patients have batfied
them in this respect, although they are
accustomed to dealing with such patients
and are on their guard And not only
are the victims clever in hiding the fact
of their being in possession OF the drug,
but they will beg, borrow OF steal money
with which to purchase it. When these
three means fail they begin to pawn
their property, and keep on until they
have pawned everything they owned.
After this nothing can be done but to
put the unfortunate victim III M asylum,
where an abstcntion from the drug is re-
sorted to for the purpose of cl1ectlng Il
cure. which often ends i'll death.
Another habit is the "bromidc habit,
which includes the excessive use OF
bromide of potassium, bromide OF am
monium and bromide of hthlum. The
bromide ficnd gradually develops an alb
normal condition of the nerves, under
which sleep, OF oven comfort, is 1mpos-
sible without constant use Of the ano-
dvne. At first the bromidcs exercise
but little influence upon the vital organs,
but their final effect is to so impair all
the bodily functions that they produce
strange and i'll some cases lncurable dIS-
eases. The advantage of the bromide
habit over the opium is that the former
is easily cured, while the latter is nearly
always incllrablc. 1t has been found
that women take more to the bromide
habit, while there are many more male
than female opium ticnds.
One of the many products from coal
tar, and one of the newest, is antipyrin,
that promises to give these so called
'sfien(s" another opportunity to expert
power OF reducing the temperature of
the body several degrees, and consc-
quently is of great use i'll treating fcvcrs,
and feyerish stages of many diseases. 1t
is prescribed by physicians i'll many III
stances, and women have already begun
to use it for their compleXions, having
found that i'll keeping the blood away
from the surface of the body, it makes
their complexions clear and pale.
Doubtless, many women begin to take
such drugs for the purpose of soothing
their nerves, or improving their COM
plexions, believing that they can give 1T
up at any time. But the habit grows,
like all habits, and often the giving up
of the use of some drug results only III
death. Antipyrin is extremely harmful,
increasing any weakness, and also what,
ever tendency there may be to heart
disease. Being Il new substance in
pharmaceutics, it is not yet thoroughly
understood by physicians, and is pre-
scribed by them with great care and
deliberatiOn.
Two other habits which are also very
common, are the use of chloral and CO.
caine. OF all hypnotics, choral is tho
least harmful, though, of course, all OK
cessive use Of this, as well as of other
similar drugs, will eventually result dis
astrously; but the constant use of CO.
caine means mental and physical ruin.
The woman who gives herself up to this
habit is soon beyond redemption. She
lives i'll a world of dreams, only parti-
ally conscious of what is going on about
her. Morally and mentally she is ire
sponsible, and becomes blind and deaf
to conscience, and almost to decency.
Chloral being the least harmful of all
hypnotics, is very much used i'll lunatic
asylumns, being generally given in con
nection with some other drug, such as
bromide of potassium. This is usually
given ut night to make the patients
sleep in order to facilitate their return
to health The average dose is ten
grains, but doses Of thirty grains arc
often given. At the Hudson River
State Hospital for tho Insane i'll the
year 1886 were used sixteen pounds of
choral, making 12,2SS doses of ten
grains each; seven pounds Of bromide
of ammonia, seventeen pounds of hyos-
cyamus and thirty-four pounds of opium
preparations, besides 1000 opium
pills and sixty one pounds of bromide of
potassium. And all this in an asylum
containing about four hundred pa
tients. But because lunatics take it, is
no reason why sane people should; and
yet, if what druggists and physicians
say is true, the number of men and
women who indulge i'll the fatal habit of
taking hypnotics is constantly increas-
ing. Then begin it, perhaps, during n
period of temporary sleeplessness, and
the effect is so pleasulnble thatthey con-
tinue it, even when they have no need
of it; or morphine is injected to allay
pain, and the sensation is so delightful
TINT they long Tor it again For the
chronic sufferer with neuralgia the hab-
it OF taking II narcotic is a fatal one. 1t
relieves the pain for the time being, but
ut each attack of the disease u larger
dose becomes necessary, and so in few
years the cumulative effect results in
death. Far better is it, if possible. to
endure the pain, or tho slight relief af-
forded by outward applications, than to
contract so dangerous habit as the
taking Of drug that must, in short
time, either kill the body or destroy the
the mind.
Fashionable women are sometimes
said to indulge largely in the use of
and it is not to be wondered
Mt if they do. \ certain amount of