Alma record. (Alma, Mich.) 1878-1928, 1889-04-19
OPIUM AND ANTIPYRIN.
Women Who Arc Slaves to Habits
| Which Ruin Body and Mind.

iienis, i do not mean anything pecu-
liariy demoniac or suggestive OF that
sulphurous realm OF which 30 much is
said ] am only using an old term in
the pharmaceutical trade for people
who get into the habit OF using some
pernicious drug.
1.-The commonest vice in this regar d
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 AZ regularly Us they take
their daily meals. Others buy lauia-
nun, and drink il in quarter ounce,
half-ounco and even ounce potions.
according TO the extent to which they
are controlled by the narcotic. Some,
who have keen palates AMI tender
stomachs, cannot take laudanum, and
use instead paregoric. This ancient
midwife's favorite is simply sweet
preparation OF opium Favored chiefly
with auise seed and tastes somewhat
like the aniSette or kummel used in
French AM German restaurants. Still
Others OF the same sort use the infants
soothing sirups, which quacks put
upon the market for the apparent bene-
fiji but the eventual ruin Of babies, ami
which are so heavily spiced and flaw
ored as 10 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 especially
the latter, act rapidly and are very
popular with opium fiends who wake
u in the @ lrly morning with large and
pal nful heads. All OF these opium
iiends are objects of pity. The habit
seems more disease than vice. As
it progre ,ses, their whole nature,
phvsic H. ment H. and moral, seems to
undergo Il complete revolution. At
the first they slowly lose their appe-
tites, an then tho eyes become prefer
naturally bright Soon the flesh be-
gins TO fall away, and the space around
the eyes becomes dark from being sur
charged with blood. Next the skin
loses its normal color and changes TO a
solden gray, a blotched brown or an
unhealthy yellow. After this come the
strangest symptoms imaginable. In
the coolest day the victim perspires
copiously and shivers at the same time.
On the other hand he complains OF be-
ing frozen in mid August, when the
thermometer is in the ninet es. With
out the slightest cause he suddenly
weeps and betrays all the emotions of
intense distress. When this stage is
reached he on she is a fife nd
Another habit" continued Dr..
Perry. (which comes under the drug
gist's eyes is the bromide habit
which includes the exec sslve use OF
bromide OF pc assiun, bromide Ct
ammonium and bromide OF lithium.
The bromide fend gradually de-
velops an abnormal condition of the
nerves, under which sleep, or even
comfort, is impossible without con-
slant use of the anodyne salts.
Muscular and intellectual exertlon
grow more and more difficult until the
habitue gets into semi-sleepy state,
in which she simply moves and vege-
tates rather than lives.
The new coal-tar product antipyrin,
has already started vice OF its own.
This singular compound was discovered
by n German chemist, and on account
of its remarkable qualities, is now used
the world over II has the power Of
re lucing the temperature of the body
by several degrees, and SO is OF vast
utility it treating fevers and feverish
stages OF IN ny diseases. Ii does its
work by depressing the acUion Of the
heart, and generally when employed
/ by physicians il Is accompanied with
digitalis TO neutralize its influence in
the latter regard. Women use it part
L. becaus Sc it is sedative and partly
because il 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, IL
does harm, however, from the first.
With women who are weak il increases
their weakness with those having n
predispo5ition toward heart disease Il
any sort, it increases the tendency TO IA
! terrible extent Besides these results,
antipyrin eXerts peculiar influence
upon the blood, which is not thorough
" understood by the faculty. 1t seems
10 undergo some decomposition or
breaking down when absorbed by the
system, developing unknown com
pounds which either attack the blood
itself or else powerfully influence the
nerves and ganglia which controls the
vital functions.
''are much more common than is gen
orally believed the use OF ch oral and
of cocaine preparations. Both are ter
rife vices, while the latter means ply
steal and mental ruin. Choral acts in
n peculiar way. 1t decomposes in the
blood AMI changes to chloro 'orm, which
in turn acts as an esthetic within the
body just the same as when inhaled.
/ The 'chloral fenl can be detected ut
a glance. Her face assumes Il yellow
/ ISL or grcenish hue that is unmis-
taxable; the eyes b co ~ satire or
! blood shot; the orbits grow disco orei;
/ the breath AS umes horrible flavor:
/ the appetite van she's and the nerves
become disorde 'ed 10 the wors: degree.
! The cocaine fieni is beyond red Emp
ton. She livesIn world OF dreams
that are shattered only when health
| departs and reason vanishes. She
/ is irres ponsible and deaf and blind
70 conscience and even decency.
There is one thing more which
I 4 IL. =