Fort Worth daily gazette. (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1889-07-22
MoRPHIA PATIENTS.
Possible Cure-How They Should Be Treated.
The Rapid Cure system.
London Standard.

London Standard.
The delightful effects of opium absorb
ton, whether by smoking or eating
though often enough declared to be be-
yond description, have nevertheless been
described again and again; whether ade-
quately or rot, those only know who have
experienced the said effects. The result
in any case has beell to increase
the number of consumers of the dead II
drug, wherever the sale of it is allowed
for other than medical purposes. Ii is
incomprehensible that anyone knowing
the probable future consequences of in
dulging IN this habit should still do so =,
merely for the present pleasure
obtained. This being so, however
makes it the more excusa BILE, when
the consumers object Is to ban
ish for q time the remembrance of a
weary, mOnotonous existence, or the
torture of mental suffering, for dreams
and visions something akin, as it would
seem, to man 5 conception of heavenly
happiness. But what a price is paid for
this illusionary bliss, which, By its very
aspect and working, renders Iife's bur
dens still more intolerable afterwards
than it was before, and leaves the weary
mortal less capable than ever of bearing
up under it, Reproof is idle, however,
in such cases.
If anything can be done to save the
opium smoker from the fate which he is
bringing upon himself, it is in the doc
tors power alone to do it AT least such
is the opinion of good authority name
ly, DR.. Schmidt of Weisbaden, ON this
subject, and most people viii be inclined
to agree with him, we imagine. Intoxi
eating drugs and drinks were given to
man, says this doctor, in order to calm
by deadening, or satisfy by aeXhilara-
ton, his memorable tormentor and
oppressor-his will which is ever want
ing something it can not obtain Wine
is the eXhilarator that satisfies, by en-
HANGING the picture of mental happiness;
beer, tobacco and opium deaden the
senses and numb the appetite for earthly
desires. Such intoxicators, when taken
in moderation, are harmless, IN Dr..
Schmidt s opinion; but the unwelcome
guest which OF late years has
forced its way in among these
narcotics, is morphia. And, as we are
told, large number of its votaries are
to be found in the highest and most re-
fined circles of society. Stranger still,
perhaps, it seems that doctors themselves
are by no means the fewest of these de-
voices. Notwithstanding that remedies
for the morphia mania are numerous,
and recorded cures of terrible cases still
more so, DR.. Schmidt maintains that the
efficacy of the one and the real.
ity of the other is more than doubt
full. "It is generally forgotten, - he
says "that the main point in this malady
lies less in the Iowness of the nervous
system than in the weakness of the
Will. - This authority prefers again to
specify the two systems of curing known
rs slow and quick remedies by the
title of compulsory and noncOmpulsory
The old method of gradually, but almost
imperceptibly, diminishing the dose of
mOrphia by adding water to il secretly
till at last the patient was informed
that for some little time past
he had had simply water injections, is
not approved by DR.. Schmidt. This be-
longs to the sO-called non compulsory
system; the patient is supposed TO be
cured without knowing it. The fact,
however, that this system is now obsolete
proves its fallibility. The patient too
often discovered the trick, which was
naturally suggested to him by
the wretched state of his nervous
system when the all-pOwerful
narcotic was partly withdrawn.
Once convinced of the deception
he sometimes returned cunning for
cunning, and at the moment when he
was partially cured of his pernicious
habit, revenged the treachery by at
once treating himself 10 the original
dose, the result sometimes being that
death ensued from acute morphia pois-
oning In any case the patient thus
i al, /
anyone wishing to attempt his cure,
without explaining how it was to be
done.
DR.. Schmidt considers that an opium
or morphia patient should be treated like
other sick people, and not allowed to
quit the Doctors hands till perfectly
cured. Perhaps we might go a little
further, and, including also inveterate |
say that such patients should |
be treated more like persons who are |
incapable of acting for themselves.
The great question is, however, |
whether either one or the other
can be so completely healed |
OF their malady as to guarantee against !
any possible relapse. Allowing, then, |
that if some cases fail, as in all maladies, |
others will still be success, there seems |
to be sense in the Doctors proposition of |
keeping morphia patients under medical |
so long as it may be judged |
necessary. Not every doctor, however, !
we are reminded, is capable of the ardu- |
Gus task imposed upon him in undertake
ing such cure.
''The patient must have absolute con- |
fdence in his doctor, and the latter must !
have a kindly sympathy for the person !
and character of the former: he must |
also make allowance for the continual /
of the sick person IS besetting
weakness, and be unriring in patience /
for his thousand sufferings of mind and |
body, which relations and doctors are SO
ready to look upon as imaginary pans,
and treat accordingly. This is the
thorny and wearying road, which only
the greatest self-denIal and resignation
San traverse, but which alone leads to
The desired end. - So writes DR..
And the idea suggests itself
whether trained nurses and ''Sisters''
could not often supply the place of
he medical man for eases of this
kind, where the disease is as
much moral as physical, or
more so, perhaps. Cases have /
NOT nm frpCuaDflv faigad IN viaI5 70 sI,a |