River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1899-09-14
The COCAINE HABIT.
Its Victims Suffer Torture That Is
Beyond Description.
Experience of mn Australian PLY 81
elan, as Told by HimseIf-saIe
of the Drug should he
Regulated by Law.
Especial Washington letter.

Truth is stranger than fiction, in
many instances. The fiction that raau
was possessed of dual nature, thai on
occasion he was "A DIR. Jekyll, and on
another occasion Mr.. Hyde, is sus-
tanned by facts in real life.
Some one of these days you will read
of the death of an eminent man in the
national capital, either by his own
hand, or as the result of an encounter
with another Or else you mny read
that he has committed murder, ordone
something heinous. And yet he has al
ways been known as one of the most
gentle and honorable of men. He moves
about in high official and social circles,
and is known to be as suave and gentle
as ever. But an eminent man of sci
ence tells me that fully one-third of
every day he is closely watched to pre-
vent him from injuring himself or 9th
ers. He is victim of the cocaine habit.
For a score of years he was known to
be one of the most busineSs-like of cor
respondents, and every days mail was
answered every day. During the past
year it has been noted that he was be-
coming careless, and that the mail was
permitted to accumulate for days at
time. Then, with two or three stenog
raphers, he would answer all the let
tiers with business-like tact as former
ly. But during the past two months he
has not written a letter, although his
correspondents continue to send their
inquiries to him. He hates the sight of
a letter carrier. He knows that his
business is being neglected. but ne does
not strive to attend to it. Moreover, he
is beginning to look pale, and to be las
situdinous in his movements; but these
symptoms are only noted by his rela-
tives, and some men of science who
have been requested to look after him.
In recent article on the subject of
cocaine some of the evils of the drug
were pointed out The scientist who
gave that information has given more
to-day which viii be of general in
terest. He says that the eminent gem
tleman alluded to is but type of
kind of patients rapidly multiplying of
recent years. 1t is his opinion that
public attention should be called to the
evil habit, and repeated warnings be
given the people.
These evils cannot be more strongly
revealed than in the experience of an
Australian physician. He has given
the world of medicine the benefit of
narration of what he underwent after
he had become addicted to the almost
constant use of the drug. In the course
of that confession, which he did not
hesitate to make public, he said. in de-
scribing his sensations: "The first feel
ing a cocainist has is indiscribable ex-
element to do something great; to
leave a mark. But, alas! this disap-
pears as rapidly as it came, and soon
every part of the body seems to cry out
for new syringe. The second sensa-
tion-at first, at least, no hallucina-
tion-is that his hearing is enormously
increased, so that he hears the flies
walking over the paper Very soon
every sound begins to be a remark
about himself, mostly of a nasty kind,
and he begins to carry on a solitary life,
his only companion being his beloved
syringe. Every passerby seems to talk
about him. Often and often have /
stopped persons, or ordered the police
to arrest them, thinking they were
talking about me. After relatively
short time begins the hunting of the