The Portland daily press., 1895-02-02
CASTOR OIL JAos ARE POSSIBLE.
Parafine, Kerosene and Cod Liver Oils Al
SO Produce Intoxication.

In the usual acceptation of the term in
toxication, or drunkenness, or lnebrlety-
for they all mean practically the same thing
is referred to the excessive use oil alcohollc
beverages in one form or another. Norman
Kerr, the highest English authority on
the subject, has pointed out, however. that
there are great many things besides aleo-
hol which produce intoxication. and that
alcoholic inc briety is not so dangerous OF
deleterious it it's effects as some other Kihus
of intoxication. DR.. Kerr enumeIaIes
among the things that "nake drunk come,
as the Indian expresses it, ether, cocaine
eau de cologne. iodine, opium, hasheesh'
para fine. kerosene and even such seeming
ly innocuous substances as cod-liver OIL
and castor oil. 1t would seem almost In
credible that there could be such thing as
kerosene inebriety OF icod-liver-oil intoxl-
cation. but the records of scientific re-
seal CHI. as set forth by DR.. Kerr, are not TO
DO disputed. The fact seems to be, that
over indulgence in any one of the numerous
substances known geneIically as paratrlp-
tics begets accumulutive appetite, and that
this is accompanied in time by functional
arrangement, and, worse still, by slack
ening and weakening of moral fiber. Tea.
coffee and tobacco, while less injurious TO
most people than alcohol or opium or ether,
serve to illustrate the familiar saying that
the appetite grows by what it feeds on.
The tobacco habit. the coffee habit. the tea
habit may grow on one until what was once
a want becomes actual need, and each
is as nece ssary to the comfort if not the
health of the devotee food itself.
In the discussion of all these questions
science is at disadvantage, says the San
Francisco Chronicle, because, first, no two
human beingssare exactly alike. and second,
no individual is exactly the same at differ
ent times. One man may drink almost num-
berless drinks and eyince no sign of intox-
cation, while another will become maudlin
at the smell of a cork out of a whiskey bot
tie. Then, too the man of clear head and
strong digestion, to whom usually liquor Is
almost as water, may find himself in a con-
dition where single glass of wine will up
set him. Science cannot deal with such
contradictory conditions. One thing seems
oertain-that the human race. SO long as
its records have been kept. has always
found ways and means to impose upon
itself the condition which we call drunken
ness. The theory and process of fermenta-
ton, and even of distilla ton, has certainly
been known for thousands of years, and
men, at least since the days of Noah, nave
continued to put into their mouths the
enemy that steals away their brains. Hap
PLY the average of intoxication. at least in
all civilized countries. is decreasing.
Drunkenness has gone out of fashion. and
while prohibition has not won the day.
moderation and temperance have achieved
a notable victory. There will be just as
many ways of getting drunk as ever. and
modern science may discover new ones, but
there will not be SO many people to intoxi-
cate themselves as there were in The times
to which we refer as the" good old days.
when abstinence from intox1cants was
deemed evidence of physical and mental
Weakness or folly.