The daily morning journal and courier., 1898-10-17
HAsHIsH GUSTS OPIUM.

Joints-Their Former Frequenters | Now Take Hashish-Effects of the ! Drug-It Annihilates Time and Space
 Gives a Man Blissful Moments, But l at the Expense of Health,
 Fill this prescription as quickly as as you can, please. I'll take it here with little soda"
 The speaker was a short, fat, young man, whose face was bloated and bad ly splotched, while his eyes were streaked with alternate red and yellow, His expression was soddenly dull As he handed the piece of paper on which the prescription was written across the counter his hand shook violently,
 The proprietor of the little Sixth ave- nue drug store in which the young man stood read carefully the prescription. Evidently it was genuine one, for he nodded assent and turned to the long stretches of Latin-labelled bottles be- hind him. One long, slender vial was soon in his grasp. It contained an opaque liquid of dark and sinister green color, Reaching for a gradua- ting glass the druggist poured out a small quantity and was about to trans fer it to a tiny goblet when the bloated young man, whose congested eyes had assumed an evanescent brilliancy, re- strained him with an impatient excla- nation:
 Don't" he cried eagerly, don't waste time-give it to me at once." i In a twinkling the liquid, which emit tedSa strong and disagreeable odor, re- 1 turned the graduating glass and 1 drained a goblet of soda which the ! druggist thrust into his trembling hand.
 Give me back the prescription, doc tor" said the customer, as he paid for the drug and began to totter feebly from the shop, "I'll be in. for another dose this evening"
 Outside the drugstore the young man sought the support of convenient lamp against which he leaned for a minute or two. Then strengthening up, and most wonderful transforma- ! tion took place. All evidences of de- creptitude vanished. The sodden dull- ness of his expression disappeared and was replaced by keen sensibility and l intelligence. His baggy form seemed ! to undergo alterations and to conform more closely with those lines of phy- sique which one would naturally ex- pect to find in person of his youth and development This metamorpho- sis complete, away he started at a brisk pace and was soon ingulfed by the hurrying throng of passersby.
 Jekyl and Hyde'' murmured the re- 1 porter who had witnessed the transfor- nation and foregoing .incidents. 1 What is the matter with that young alcoholism? No" replied the druggist, as he re- l turned the bottle of green fluid to its shelf, ''he is one of New Yorks thou { sands of hashish eaters. Hashish, as 1 you perhaps know" he continued di- l dactically, lis preparation of hemp I professionally known as Canabis Indi- ! ca. It is narcotic, further reaching l in it's pernicious influences than any form of opium you may name indeed i it has succeeded opium in the favor of those who are constantly in search of new sensations.
 'Ten years ago New York was filled with opium dens, many of which were | palatial. Fortunes were expended in l fitting out single joint, in creating a l fairyland-like environment to cores l pond with the roseate visions supposed to visit those who hypnotized them selves with the fumes of opium. Where are those joints to-day? Where are those exclusive dens that catered l to patrons who wished to indulge the 1 vice in assured and luxurious seclu- sion? They have disappeared one and all. Only miserable, filthy joints in side 1 streets and remote purlieus are now running.
 It is not that wave of reformation has swept the high-class places away, I but the one-time frequenters and sup porters of exclusive opium joints have undergone change of affections. | They have taken up hashish as means of more thoroughly satiating their appetites.
 Many of the opium eaters who have i discarded that narcotic for hashish are men of keen sensibilities. Some are men of a high order of intellect and in- telligence. It is to such persons that the effects of hashish appeal with greatest fascination. It distorts the fancy far more than opium and the | imagery begot of it when first used is more kaleidoscope and pleasing than any form of opium gives.
 Tt has been contended by an astute l philosopher that true happiness will only be possible when time and space are abolished. We'll, this is what ! hashish temporarily accomplishes. It sweeps from the mind all idea of chro- nological division; it eliminates the appreciation of space, and conquers geographical distances in the mind of the eater with electrical rapidity. So l time and space, mentally no longer in existence, the budding hashish eater finds that all things of earth contrib i ute to his pleasure and that life is one 1 long reign of ecstatic joy. A wonder full metamorphosis takes place in fa- miliar surroundings. A tiny ballroom 1 expands into a vast palace of marvel ous beauty; a rubbish-flled back yard 1 becomes a tropical garden. A street | is no longer a mere tumultuous thor l oughfare, it is g populous world But that, remember, is only in the hashish | eaters novitiate, when the drug ap- l peals most entirely to his mental facul- 1 ties. Habitual use makes it physical need or craving, and then the halluci- Fnations, less picturesque and pleasing,
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