San Antonio daily light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1886-1907, 1897-11-24
THE ETHER DRINKING HABIT.
Vice Began I'm Ireland and Spread To
England and the Continent.


England and the Continent.
The recent death from an overdose o.
ether of the celebrated DR.. Luys has
brought once more into prominence
the question of etheromania. A few
years ago. this vice was limited to Eng
land, but now it has reached the con
| tinent. The ether habit, more refined
perhaps than the passion for alcohol
is beginning to make many victims
We can count by hundreds now the
people who take ether every day. They
mix it with alcohol, and in that way
obtain drink that intoxicates rapidly
The confirmed ether drinkers take il
in its purity and in ordinary doses OF
from eight to fifteen grammes. The
beginners take water before and after
their ether, but the hard drinkers neg.
lect this precaution, which diminishes
the burning sensation in the stomach.
There are some ether drinkers who
take $50 grammes at time.
Drunkenness comes on rapidly, and
also passes away in comparatively
short time. The first symptom is VIC
lent excitement with abundant saliva
ton. Sometimes epileptiform convul-
sions are observed, and when the dose
is too strong they are followed by stu
por. Nothing in the effects has been
observed which resembles delirium ire
mems except in cases in which whisky
and ether are blended.
But if drunkenness from ether is
less degrading than drunkenness from
alcohol, it is far more dangerous. 1t
leads to insanity and death and soon
brings about marked changes in the
temper and in the health of the ether
omaniac. Take this portrait of the
ether drinker and you will find serious
motives for avoiding the drug:
1.-THE ether drunkard is quarrelsome
and untruthful. His condition of mind
resembles that of people afflicted with
certain nervous diseases. He suffers
from gastric troubles and nervous pros
tration. He becomes the slave of his
passion, like the opium smoker, and
the cures of the passion are rare. 1t is
impossible to save person afflicted
with this malady except on the condi-
ton of his renouncing completely the
ether habit, and this seldom happens,
AS rule, an etheromaniac is never
cured except by the impossibiIity of
satisfying his passion. There is no
ether remedy but confinement and the
closest guarding at all times"
Like the morphinomaniacs, the slaves
of ether may become addicted to their
vice after certain maladies. Sometimes,
when a patient suffers from headache,
handkerchief stepped in ether is put
under his nose. Relief comes quickly,
and he inhales the drug with delight.
After few inhalations great freshness
in the face and in the respiratory or
gans is felt. The dose is doubled in or
der to double the agreeable sensation,
with the result that delicious ecstacy
is experienced, and gradually the habit
is acquired and continues until OF last
an overdose results in death.
The origin of this singular vice is
obscure. Some say that the irish peas
ants began to drink ether in 1910, at the
time when Father Matthew was preach
ing the crusade against alcohol. 9th
ers accuse the doctors of having pre-
scribed ether too literally. Finally the
question of price has its Importance, es-
pecially among the poorer classes, for
ether produces intoXication easily and
is cheaper than alcohol.
Thank Heaven, the ether drunkards
are at present relatively rare in Paris.
In London the keepers of the various
squares and parks often find under the
trees empty walls labeled "ether" that
have been thrown there by the maniacs
who quit their homes in order to in
dulge their favorite passion at their
ease. AT EPSON after the races many
TASKS of ether are picked up among
empty champagne bottles.
But it is in certain portions of Ire
land that the vice of ether drinking is
most common. There are regular ether
shops, the oldest of which was estab-
ished in 1910 at Draperstown. There
they drink a mixture of alcohol and
ether, Is grammes of which are suffi-
cient to put anyone into a reverie. The
railroad in the little district of Crooks
town carries every year 1000 tons of
ether, and an equal quantity at least is
brought there by other roads. Two
merchants of the neighboring villages
sell every year 4,5OO pints of ether. At
Draperstown and at Crookstown the
air is charged with the vapors of ether
on market days, and this same odor is
present constantly in the third-class
carriages of the Derry Central railway.
Everybody in that part of Ireland
drinks ether.-Courier des Etats Unis.
DcfOrmed Fingers I'm Criminals.
''rhe fingers of criminals" says a
medical man who has studied them,
d.. l.. L