The National tribune. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1877-1917, 1889-04-18
written for THE NATIONAL TRIBUNE.
HEALTH UNITS
For Old and Young.
BY FELIX L. OSWALD, M. D.,
Author of Physical Educationn Household
Remedies; THE Bible of Nature etc.
CHAPTER XII.
gTIMULANTS.

In active military service applications for leave
of absence are rarely welcome, and | knew
commanding officer who went SO far as to de-
scribe furloughed soldiers as temporary de-
serters" - am sure no man that knows me
will call me martinez" he used to say; but,
- it. my friends should not ask me to oblige
them by doing the enemy favor"
For similar reasons even the votaries of pleas
ure should abstain from INDUCING in habits
that are sure to favor the development of dis
ease-that worst enemy of happiness on earth.
Temperance, indeed, could be forcibly preached
from purely secular point of view; for, after
all, what were the "inhumanity of man TO
man" if human misery could be weighed in the
balance? ANY one of the 10 chief poison habits
that have enslaved the appetites of men cost
them moro misery in single mouth than all
the cruelty and injustice of their fellowmen
would cause in the course of year. Thou
sands of negro slaves went to their work sing
ing and passed the evening hour with frolic and
dances; but even a stole philosopher would find
it difficult to sing to the accompaniment of
throbbing headache or dance with equity feet
-" Dragging through life the weight of self
forged chains NOT the lighter for being gilt
or muffied.
How few can break such letters? Yet how
many could and would have avoided them with
the aid of little light. One fatal error tempts
millions into pitfalls which the ingenuity of
the arch-fiend could not have contrived more
cunningly for preventing the escape of cap
| tive-the error of installing a p0iSon-terer for
symptom Of increasing strength That baneful
fallacy underlies all stimulant habits whatever.
The same experiment will succeed with any
poison known to modern chemistry. Alcohol,
opium, hashish betelnut, nicotine, theme,
caffeine have happened to attain wide popu
larity, but any poison in the weed patch would
make an effective substitute; and if a man had
to practice self befuddlement of some sort or
other, he might attain his object and save
money by collecting lot of poisonous mush-
rooms, bundles of fox glove or jimson- weed,
and giving the beer-shOpa wide berth.
Without any exception any poison, however
repulsive, need only to be repeatedly forced
upon the organism to beget morbid craving
for the repetition Of the dose-a perverted taste
with all the force of second nature. To an
unperverted taste no substance on earth can
we'll be more shoekingly nauseous than opium
III any Of its concentrated forms. Morphine,
the alkaloid of poppy juice, affects the palate
like an application Of corrosive sublimate, and
in larger doses viii produce vomiting, loss of
appetite and gnawing pains in the stomach;
but at the same time it will induce StImatdRt
feUer, caused by the spasmodic efforts of the
system to rid itself of e-endangering poi
son. This revolt of the organism is followed
by an abnormal exhaustion, and after several
repetition of the dose, by protracted state of
of severe bodily injury. But by further harm,
the application of hot hranding-iron, and
such-ilke, even man Frustrated by grievous
wound may for moment be brought on his
legs again, and on the same principle the
opium-exhausted system may for a short time
be reused from its lethargy by repetition of
the poison dose; the organism, though in sore
need of rest rallies all its strength for the ex-
pnlsion of the new intruder, and works with
feyerish energy till the worst danger is past
just as the defenders of besieged city would
leave their work of repair and rush to the walls
at the alarm of a new assault.
This fever the poisondupe mistakes for a
proof of IMMIGRATION. Remedial tonic"
health giving and exhilarating stimulant"
are the favorite epithets of the patent nostrum
quack in describing his -bighting poisous
Yet the instinct of imitation" conformity
to social presidents lis quite as active as the
/ arts OF the professional tempter. A young
romp, brimful of vital energy and far more in
need of sedatives than of stimulants will insist
on her cup of strong black tea, just because she
! sees her elders use it. In Spain she would
! coyet cigaret; in Malaeca she would want to
| chew a leaf of betel-pepper. The result of the
! first experiment would in each case be rather
disappointing; but Sissy remembers that dane
ing-lessons roller-skating, ETC., are at first not
as pleasant as afterwards, and blames her own
taste, if anything, for non-appreciating the
/ d
to like it, she thinks. By aud by time seems
| to justify that hope Tea, tobacco and betel-
| leaves cease to be repulsive become indispens-
| able, if not positively attractive, become III
comparable tonics ri. e., specifics for the re-
| lief of special kind of low spirits which moth
ing else win so readily cure, though, somehow,
| the dose in order to be effective has to be
steadily increased. For tonics "pallp The
jaded system after while refuses to respond
to the spur, while the hankering after stimu-
lation Tor rather the fretting under its conse-
quences) continues; and to obtain the same re-
lief the patient has to apply his remedy in
larger and larger quantities, or else has to
intensity the quality. e., resort to stronger
poison.
Hence the danger of the mider tonics All
stimulant habits are progressive. Small beer
leads to lager beer; light wines to high wines
laudanum to opium and morphine, and an oc-
casonal cigaret to six strong cigars day,-all
by the natural consequences of the desire to
balance the decrease of the stimulating effect
by increasing the means of stimulation.
For the motives of that desire become more
and more urgent. The slight uneasness (the
after-efect of the first abnormal excitement
which caused the young tea-drinker to long foI
q return of time has assumed the form OF a
distressing sick headache that refuses to yield
to ordinary remedies, but can be temporarily
relieved by potful of strong black tea. The
! awakening from CHS lBblargy OF Ills
alcohol sleep, bankers after another glass, tc
brace up; the repentant opium smoker is
haunted by distracting temptations to relapse
the brain-aches of the hashisb topper torture
him till he clamers for increased doses of hash
ish Ia decoction of hemp leaves, and refuse.
to be comforted by any other means
And why not yield to those appeals, since
hemp-tea is cheaper than bread, and the han.
kering of the habitue worse torture than
hunger? In the first place, the hoped for re
lief is merely the substitution of fever for
sick headache,-a self-delusion, like the hope
to drown remorse IN stupefactiou. In the sec
ond place. even that temporary relief is bought
too dear the infallible after effect being an in
crease of distress. 1t will at first palliate, bu
at last certainly aggravate, those brain aches
the exercised imp will return with sever
) demons. And, moreover, the sham-remedy viii
lessen the chance of his one possible cure
Every repetition of the dose will strengthen
. the grip of the habit and make it more diff
cult to break its hold. The further we STRAY
from Nature the harder it win be to retraet
our steps. Just as surely as abstinence is ease,
than temperance the easiest way to escape
from the slavery of poison-habit is to re
nounce the practice utterly and at once, and K
abstain not only from a repetition of the chic
besetting sin, but from all secondary stimu
lant-habits whatever.
ITO be continued)
|
Sad Calamity.