The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1894-08-12

become 20 general that small shopkeepers treated
the children who were sent 10 purchase
some article with a small dose n ether, and
s~choolmastets would detect the smell of II on
the breath Of children from 10 70 IL years Of
age. The amount swallowed at . draught va
ries mainly with the stage Of education in ether
consumption. A novice will find a dram IA tea
spoonful) sufficient. Gradually the wish for
effect requires an increased dose, till in time q
quarter Of an ounce may, TO a practised drink.
er. become the ordinary peg" TO use the Anglo
Indian term. More seasoned persons have a
higher capacity, many quaflng of half
q wineRlassful as unconcernedly as an
average Englishman would drink a glass
Of claret. The amount Of ether consumed
in q day is remarkable. A confirmed
ether inebriate will take much more than half
a wineelassful and repeat It even four, Eve. or
six times in twenty-four hours when on a spree.
Indeed, in some cases. half . pint hes been the
regular daily quantum of habitual inebriates.
In England the author has known an ether
drunkard use a pint Of ether by inhalation every
day. In Ireland many persons keep themselves
intoxicated all day long for the sum Of sir
pence, taking two pennyworth at 10 o'clock. 1
o'clock, and 4 o'clock. In England the ma
jority Of ether drinkers inhale the poison.
In Ireland the universal method II TO drink
II. BY the latter mode the ether is
taken neat Owing TO an idea that ether,
like whiskey or brandy, should be drunk d.
luted with water. to sheathe the v~irulence
Of the poison. the uninitiated and ignorant
Englishman in ireland sometimes attempts TO
mix his peg with water, but failure awaits him,
for, unlike ardent spirits. ether il but sparingly
soluble in water. The pungency Of ether, except
to those who have finished their education in IL,
generally calls for an overture TO the act OF
ether swallowing, in the form Of a draught of
cold water, ana q second draught Of water Is
taken after the ether. The confirmed etherist,
however, dlspenses with the water altogether,
though he may for a while, especially when
drinking an unusually large dose. hold his nose
In one hand. Sulphuric ether, which is the
article preferred for the purposes Of In
toxication, contains 8 per cent. of alcohol
in water with 90 per cent. OF ether
purus. II is q swift, potent, difusible
stimulant, narcotic, anRsthetic and anti
spasmodic, of great value in medicine. II has q
strong, penetrating odor, is sweetish, burning.
and pungent to the palate. Intoxication by
ether presents one distinguishing feature as
compared with the effect OF alcohol. In rapid
ity of manifestation alcohol is nowhere. The
first and immediate effect of ether drinking Is
an exhilarated state of morbid exaltation, when
the exuberant merriment and ineradicable i'm
pulse TO fight OF the genuine Irishman stand
revealed in the twinkle of an eye. This pleas
ing but quickly vanishing whirl of enjoyment is
followed by an evanescent episode Of brain dis
turbance and mental riot. with muscular paraly-
sis and inco0rdination. Last comes the coma
tose stage, when the patient is said to
be dead drunk. The shortest period in
which DR.. Kerr has seen this inebriate
panorama move on till It swung round to
sobriety has. with alcohol. been six
hours. With ether he has witnessed tho entire
in less than two hours. Thus the
can have three thorough DRINKS for one
OF the alcoholist- Herein. in addition TO he
greater cheapness, lies the greater attraction of
TO the greedy for intoxication. A man
while drunk on ether alone, ia not I'M
likely TO be quite sober by the time the officer
has brought him to the police station, although
the arrest may have been made when the man
10 a frenzy Of boisterous excitement.
Little is known OF the pathology of ether.
The habit Of ether drinking is of too recent
TO afford opportunities for much
post-mortem examination. Nevertheless, pre-
old age and an antedated shrivelling up
IF the living frame attest the poisonous innu-
ence Of ether. Acute and chronic gas
tritis, debility, dyspeptio distress, burning
spigastric pain In the region of the sternum. dis
for food, insomnia, pallor, tremors, ner-
sous prostration, chilliness, q cyanosed or lemon
kin, and an intermitting heart beat, with ex-
sggerated renexes, and q feeling of decreased
strength in the lower limbs are conspicuous
II has been asserted by some medi-
al authorities that ether is ~guiltless OF produc-
any pathological lesion from the almost
lightning rapidity with which its inebriating
manifestation appear and fade away, and from
he fact that no serious morbid after-death ap-
have been observed. In DR.. Kerr's
Judgment, this conclusion is premature. Judg-
ng from the symptoms he has observed In ether
nebriates. he has not the slightest doubt that
,ther has q pathological influence on various
,rgans and tissues, and that. II ether drinking
Ihould boast OF as venerable an antiquity as
lcohol drinking. unmistakable LESSONS would
lave been manifested.
IL 10 noteworthy that legislation has proved
to repress this new form of inebria-
ion. In January, 1901. the British Govern
nent, acting on the advice of the Royal College
Il Physicians. scheduled ether as a poison IN
Ter the provisions of the Pharmacy act, thus
ubjecting the sale OF the drug to the same re-
and safeguards as affect other poisons.
70 effective has this measure proved that the
ale Of ether has already been diminished by 90
Yer cent. and thus, for the present at all events,
o have been practically stamped out in Ireland.
Cocaine inebriety seems to be the most terrible
apidity with which 1t breaks Town the mental
l.