Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1891-04-26

naphtha fumes better, because they were
easier to take. All that was necessary was
to iuhale them from the pipes and the work
was done. Besides the latter cost nothing,
which was an important item to girl on
small wages.
AS Mr.. Wycoff understood the girls de-
scription, a languorous and pleasant sensa-
tion came over her, and when she would
drop off to sleep very delightful visions was
the result She did not live far from the
factory, and just before starting home she
would indulge freely in the naphtha fumes,
and by the time the effects of the draught
were coming on she would be in her room,
and, throwing herself on the bed, would eI-
perience whatever pleasure there was In
such strange debauch. The sensation re-
sulting from good pull at the pipes would
usually last three-quarters OF an hour.
Delightful Visions and Languor.
In most cases the narcotic influence of tlE
fumes would produce sleep which would
cover half of this time, but although there
was not absolute sleep the condition was
closely bordering on slumbeT and the effect
was about the same. The same delightful
visions were present and delicious languor
possessed the mind and body, which the de-
luded victim OF this vice persisted in believ-
ing could not be otherwise than a good thing
for her.
Other girls who INDUCED themselves in
this method of "hitting the pipe" confessed
to about the same experience, and none of
them would admit that they had at any time
felt any ill effects from it.
From a physician Mr.. Wycof learned,
what might be expected, that naphtha fumes,
when habitually inhaled, will produce all
the horrors of opium. The physician had
haa lad fN of Uith
gravated case OF hysterical convulsions. He
found her eyes wild and staring, her face
and limbs swelled, and with q high fever
She had been suffering with hysteria for
some weeks before he was called to attend
her. He found that she had been q victim
of the naphtha habit and had INDUCED far
beyond her strength to endure it. She was
removed to a hospital, put in spite OF all
that could be done for her, her symptoms
grew worse and finally developed into
epilepsy in its worst form. She was still
alive when Mr.. Wycoff was in Paris, but
there was but small hopes that she would
ever be well. Her brain was badly affected
and she was little better than a mental and
physical wreck, and resulting, as the physi-
clans believed, from inhaling the fumes of
nsphtha.
Crude Oil as a Beverage.
A tramp who was given employment
about we'll in the Armstrong Run district,
near Brady's Bend, Pa, was known to take
regularly drink of crude oil fresh from the
well. 1t was in the stipulations that the
tramp was not to invite his soul with
whisky while employed, and as it seemed to
be necessary that he should have something
to brace up on he had recourse to the oil,
which, when taken fresh from the pipes, was
strongly impregnatcd with gas This, he
declared, was a very good substitute for
rum, but no one else on the job cared to
verify his statement by drinking it. He
took his libations alone and In silence, and
so far as anyone could see-and we used to
watch him pretty closely for results-was
entirely satisfactory to him. 1t produced
in his system a mild exhilaration which
seemed to better reconcile him to lingering
in this vale of tears. As to the taste of the
oil, he said he did not mind tit was not
the taste he was after.
r. W. CRIswELL,