Bennington semi-weekly banner. (Bennington, Vt.) 1894-1902, 1895-02-19
'BANE OF NARCOTICS,
INGENUITY CONSTANTLY AT WORK
TO DEVISE NEW DRUGS.

Called Poisoning, Says DIR. Sperry.
DIR. Lyman b. Sperry makes a comfort
able living by giving popular lectures on
the subject of narcotics. For moro than
30 years he has been studying the proper
ties of such drugs and their effects He
began his work when the Minnesota state
board of education decided to provide in
struction on the evil effects of strong
drink, and lro was sent to coach the teach
Iers and prepare the textbooks. Aside
from the moral aspect of the subject he
found that both teachers and pupils were
interested in tho forms in which various
drugs were prepared and the degrees and
differences in effect. In this way he was
led to give public lectures upon tho sub
,ject.
While discussing the subject in a gen
eral way DR.. Sperry told n reporter that
corps of experts could not follow the ia
pidity with which narcotics were put upon
the market in novel and ingenious forms.
I'VE seem to be living in an age" he
said, when drunkenness has become
national disease and is paralyzing the encr-
gics of our people. l mean to apply tho
term drunkenness so as to include the
opium and choral habits and the newer
Thousand and one powders and fluids sold
at drug stores under the names of pyrincs
and febrincs, calisayas etc. l would place
the cigarette habit among the most harm
full, because it certainly leads to mental
exhaustion and thence to the use of more
powerful narcotics. "
According to Dr. Spcrry, the cunning
of man seems to have been turned of late
. ,f Il
ious forms. When q student at medical
college, he made speciality of chemistry,
and he now employs his spare time in IN.
alyzing new headache powders, cough mix.
lures, cigarettes, patent medicines and
candies, Just to see" he explains, 'how
the devil is keeping up with the times.
1t was Charles Lamb who said, IF glass
of ardent spirits stood before me, and
knew that eternal misery were the price OF
drinking 1t, 1 could not let it alone. "
Nowadays the art of Disgusting the spirits
has progressed so that n person may get
the effects and incidentally the misery
later without knowing exactly what is
happening.
No two individuals are influenced in
precisely the same manner and to precise.
ly the same degreee by any one of the mar.
cotics, and no two of the narcotics pro.
duce precisely tho same effect on any one
individual The ingenuity of man is
therefore very busy devisng the form of
narcotic that will produce the most desir.
able effect. An amount of opium-say
two grains-whiCh produces in one person
profound Inconsistencies, closely Coun-
terfeiting Sleep may render another per.
Ison cXCitedly wakeful, while a third may
not be nOticCably influenced by it in any
way. DR.. SpCrry claims that physicians
have been innocently to blame in two
ways for the spread of the use of narcotics.
In the first place, they start the morphine
or liquor habit by prescribing anodynes
containing the drugfor insomnia and merry
BUSINESS. In the second place, they have in
PRODUCED persons directly to narCOtism by
utterly installing the composition and
effects of new drugs said to be harmless.
"A few years ago., said DIR. Spcrry
''the best physicians Of our country were
in an ecstasy of delight over the discovery
of chloral. At last they thought they had
found q drug that would soothe irritntcd
nerves and leave no unpleasant effects
something that would stimulate the ncrv-
Gus system without deranging any of the
organs of the body. The discovery had
been known but very short time before
chloral was commonly prescribed by ply
sicians all over the country. There was
a terrible awakening when it was discov-
cred that the choral habit followed close
upon the physician prescription.
II do not think the habit is quite ST.
common as it was, because choral tends
soon take to opium to secure Il more per.
feet dcadening of the nerves. The physi.
clans who Endorsed its use as a method of
allaying pain were nevertheless response
BILE for the results. Afterward came the
discovery of cocaine, and again it was
thought that the ideal drug had been
found for certain purposes. In precisely
the same way the cocaine habit followed.
The difference is that the cocaine makes
it's victims insane instead of producing
the long years of lingering suffering from
the use OF opium.
Now we have physicians prescribing
new sedative powders which are introduce
ed almost weekly. 1t is said that these
drugs leave no bad effects. have found
that in most instances the effects are not
observable for some time. A person with
a bad headache or troubled with insomnia
may take one of the many powders that
go under the name of pyrincs, etc, and
experience very grateful relief. The pains
disappear long and refreshing sleep fol-
lows, and the person is ready for solid
work. The same remedy, which can be
purchased at all drug stores without
physicians prescription, is used again and
again when the nerves are to be quoted.
There can be but one end, and that is
complete SCATTERING of the nervous sys-
TEN, which leaves an easy route to the
opium and morphine habits
1.-The advertisements in street cars,
newspapers and druggists windows would
indicate that there is an epidemic of men
tai and nervous exhaustion among the
American people. The cause is not over
work, as the advertisements say, but the
carelessness and ignorance of our people
in using alleged remedies which aggravate
the trouble and cause general breaking
down. If it were possible to have a law
requiring an analysis of all these nerv;nes
to be printed on the labels, there would
be less talk about the disposition of the
people of this country to work themselves
into early graves.
1.-The process known as 'bracing' should
be called poisoning. People of intclli-
gence and self respect seldom intentional
ly take enough of narcotic to render
themselves incapable of RATIONAL volun-
tary action, but so deluding and SO de-
structive of the power of self control is