The morning call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1878-1895, 1894-06-19
THE FASHION OF NARCOTICS.

1t is curious that the medical conven-
tons which are being held just now have
had nothing to say en- the subject of the
growth of the taste for narcotics. 1t is
really quite serious matter. While the
prohibtionists are disclaiming against the
use of alcoholic beverages and the plant
ng of vineyards, women and children are
eaching themselves to use stimulants and
Sedatives, which are perhaps quite as
deleteri0us in their way as whisky.
Many years ago people who had taken
chloroform TO deaden pain acquired a
strange liking for the effects of the drug,
and accustomed themselves to inhale il.
not to the point of producing anesthesia,
but sufficiently to engender a dreamy,
semi-eonscious condition. such as the
Arabian hachish is said TO cause. Then
came the discovery of choral. This was
SO highly esteemed by physicians that it
was constantly prescribed. Ladies con-
tracted liking for 1t. 1t was soon dis
covered that its use, after a time, upset
the nervous system, and that the choral
lend, after time, gradually sought a still
more powerful narcotic ana became an
opium tisnd. The popular disease of the
day-nervous depression-may be traced
in an infinite number of cases to the
choral habit, long INDUCED. Then came
cocaine, which was invaluable in surgery
and dentistry. 1t, too, had charm which
weak women could not resist. Doctors
could not say that il destroyed the nerves.
Its effect on the convolutions of the brain
was, however, soon discovered, and its
use came to be classed by alienists as one
of the prominent causes of insanity.
The German coaltar cures for headache
next came into vogue. Pyrine, phenace-
tine. anti-pyrine and cognate drugs are
really marvellous in their effects on head
ache. They operate within an hour, and
the relief is complete. But they accom-
plish their effects by lowering the tempera-
lure and checking the pulse, proceeding
10 which the heart decidedly objects. 1t
is delightful for one who is SUBJECT to head
aches to find a medicine that will stop
them; but if it stops the heart as we'll not
much is gained. Yet there are many
ladies who keep their anti-pyrine bottle
on their table by the side of the powder
pot and use it without suspicion of its
deadly possibilities. Many druggist sells
pills or dragees which look harmless enough
and are described as the very thing to calm
potency because they contain narcotic
pOiSons.
The nervous system Is perhaps the most
delicate portion of the human organiZa-
tioD. Physicians know little about it or
about the laws which govern its action.
But it only needs common-sense to see that
the use of minerals which desden that
system for however short period of time
must leave it more enfeebled than they
found it. 1t is impossible to psralyze even
for an hour any portion of the human
anatomy without impairing lis future
ability to perform the work for which it
was created. Such result is a high price
TO pay for few hours ofsoothing sojourn
in dreamland. The doctors tell us that
diseases, like millinery, are governed by
fashiOn-that at one period ladies will all
suffer from spinal trouble, at another with
headache, at another with a breakdown of
the nervous system, which throws them
into low spirits and units them for exer-
ton. If the truth could be ascertained, it
would probably turn out that in a large
portion of these periodical cases the true
cause of the disorder is a long cherished
habit of trifing with the laws of health.
Drugs were supplied by Providence to
counteract disease. But they are sharp
edged tools. and in unskillful hands they
may be deadly. They should never be
employed by those who are ignorant of
their properties. People who buy pills
and powders and fluids at the druggists
without doctors prescription are play
ing tricks with their constitution, and
nature is apt to call such expsrimentalists
to a sharp account