The herald., 1895-12-20
DRUGS AND DRINK

With our civilization has come a great
am continual decrease in drunkenness.
Tp mat onal drink BILL" concerning
wfch SO much is said, is less. man for
nan, than it WAS a century or half CEN
try ago, or at least represents a less con-
hmption. We hear more about drunken
less, but that is because we have ceased to
regard it as matter of course, a regular
part of daily life. Therefore, it may be
surmi-ed that our blue-ribbon and other
armies in fighting the 'drink fiend," are
striking at what is after all dying mons
ter, though dangerous even in the death
grips.
Meanwhile another subtler demon arises.
The vices of ci ilZation are with us, and
those who would scorn to ''drink," as they
call it-differen iating the consumption OF
alcohol from that of all other liquds-in-
dulge in DIR lgs of various kinds. Opium,
either in the form of laudanu II drinking
or in the subtler form of the hypodernic
injection of morphia, is, though not com
mon, less rare than it Is guessed to be-
Insomnia or pain which TO our sensitive
nerves seems intOlerable is the excuse for
beginning the habit, and the end is worse
than drum enriess. The ''cocaine habii
is recognized fact in America, where our
Teutouic race, subj.cted to an intenser
climate and an iIueuser LIE than i'll
Europe, has developed a quicker sensioiiity
and more irrl'aoie nerve. The inhalation
of chic otorm has proved an Irresistible
temptation to many, and women who would
scorn any indulgence in wine sip eau de
Cologne and other perfumes.
Infinitely more dan gerous than alcohol
are these terms of inebrety In that no ie
voting associations surround them. Their
victims do not regard themselves AS drunk
-. IL f.rll
formed. They cannot identify their ner-
vousness, their faiIitness, their sleepes,-
ness with the cravings Of the staggering
loafer of The street, nor the rest they Oh
tain after the dose with the stupor of vul-
gar drunkenness. Therefore, TO an extern
which is not generally realized. women are
subject to this temptation. Their image
nation is no offended, and they can usu-
ally obtain the drug they want without sus-
picion aid carry it about in convenient
forms. | takes long time for even init
ma es to realize that the depression, the
irrltability, the varying moods of rigid
abstainer, arise from Drunkenness; we
geueralIy conceive that condition as being
due to only one source. And drug habits
of various sorts become incurable just be-
cause no one realizes that they are simply
form of incbriety.
The general habit of drugging is to be
condemned. No healthy person needs con-
unual me0lCatlnE WIN elmer OlGeStlVeS,
purgatives, tonics or sedatives. If a doc
Tor prescribes these things, good and we'll;
he KIN Wa presumably when to give and
when stop, but the irresponsible W y in
which pc ,pIe pour substances into their
systems would awaken ones admiration of
their cou aye if it did not arouse ones in.
dignation at their folly. Cases have been
known of ginger drunkenness. Extracts OF
ginger, popular among women ms relieving
functional disturbances, contain strong al
cohol disguised by he pungent spice.
| Arsenic eating is not confined to Syria
but is popular as an improvement to
the complexion among he society danes
of Australia, while innocent people t Ike
strychnine in their tonics without knowing
| it until they begin to feel "jumpy." The
danger is two-fold-hrst, the directly in
| furious effects of the chosen drug. aud Sec
ond, the risk of ignorantly clasping to one S
breast a viper more malignant than the
''drink" tiend. Alcohol we know and
dread, but these things-as dangerous as
aicnhol--we take without any fear. And
while for men and women of a different
race, dwelling in a hot and malurious eli
mate, quinine. opium and other drugs may
be not only harmless but even wholesome,
they are for us Anglo-Saxons, except in
rare instances. subtle and perncious foes.
The Hospital.