The Minneapolis journal. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1888-1939, 1903-10-24
BEWARE OF MORPHIA.
One of the Lessons Of the Sad Fate
Of sybil Sander =. i. :.
- 80. :. -" -. <
Another of the Thousands Of Vic
Tins of One of the Modern
49,. Demons. " Il

Correspondence st. Louis Globe Democrat
Paris July 6.-Sibyl Sanderson died Of
pneumonia. :. Yes-but-- So. T. ~.
Wanda de Roncza died Of appendicitis.
Yes-but! - 80 - y y - 80. :
Both these beautiful and innocent young
stars of the Paris stage, beloved alike by
artists and the public, possessed; Of all
talents and successful beyond measure,
would in all human probability be still
alive had they not in the past been VIC
time Of light-minded doctors
The maadies set down in their GER
tifcates Of death were the occasion, not
the cause, Of their untimely taking off.
Young and blooming, they might well have
triumphed over both pneumonia and APP
pendicitis in the care Of the skilled
specialists who treated them in their last
illness had not g. secret poison Slapped
their youthful vitality. .-
Sybil Sanderson and Wanda de Boncza
were both victims Of morphia-need and
hypodermic needle. ::
If physicians, with full knowledge Of tho
consequences, fall into the habit in
such numbers, what great tenderness
ought we not have for their lay victims?
The truth Is, however, that a large pro-
portion Of our doctors have but vague
knowledge Of the vital clutch which NOR
phia takes upon its subject. -,
Tut! tut!' you will hear them say, 1.-The
morphia, habit is a sensual seeking after
sensation. All the habttue need to do
Is to throw his Cor herr syringe and bottle
of solution out Of the window. and exert
q little will power!" -..-.. -. -,
Such talk Is Grass ignorance. It would
be as If to tell the subject to cease
breathing and live on by will power. Such
doctors know that morphia stops pain.
They know they can give one-eighth grain
and wait to watch for the effects. If pain
has not ceased within, say, half an hour,
they know that they can give another
eighth. IT,
Wanda de Boncza suffered from certain
pains. Some physician Of this sort stopped
them with hypodernnic morphia and told
the girl what drug it was that had brought
her such ease!
He did more. He said: .
IF these pains come on again to-mor-
row night, here is little phial Of NOR
needle. Fill it carefully without air bub-
bles, stick it in your leg, here on the side,
and push the piston gently. You have
seen me do it." ,, 49,. :
Doubtless he also told her: ..
But be careful not to take it often or
without great need!" and:
do not take more than I tell you. It
is deadly poison"
Sometimes physicians trust their pa
tents with the dangerous remedy out OF
honorable delicacy not. to multiply their
visits and their charges. =: =: =. -,
"You can do it just as we'll as T." they
will say. II need not come every time"
In the case Of Sybil Sanderson it was
not pain, but as the young star about the
year 1900 was threatened with a break
down, due to the ardor with which she
threw herself into her work, some learned
doctor tried a theory on her. 1t Is known
| that morphia habitues, when one. can
break them of the habit take on q
sudden and splendid renaissance, T.. OF
health. Now, the man Of theory sought
to bring similar reaction to the aid
Of Sybil Sanderson, and, it must be admit
ted, there were technical reasons in the
nature Of her malady which made the plan
seem very promising. :
The doctors plan was not, indeed. to
make a complete and finished morphia
habitue, although a celebrated Paris spe-
cialist, DR.. Sollier, director Of the most
serious and important house OF health
| (sanatoriun) Of Paris, has not feared to
| suggest the practice in the case of con-
sumptives His plan was to give her NOR
phia only long enough to get the much
desired reaction" by the sudden cutting
| of it off. '....- ;
Unhappily, morphia is also a, tremend-
Gus stimuant At once gentle and force
full, it Gains and steadies as it braces UP
the tired organism. The stimulation, Of
| wine or brandy is a brutal, heating, flick
ering stimulation. That of morphia is as
a sunbeam in the solt and body.
Like thousands Of others, Sybil Sander
son and Wanda de Bancza, docile in the
| hands Of doctors, went thru the first NOR
phia stages of sleep, nausea and head
ache ** to the sunbeam stage of
secret happiness. Never before had their
young bodies rejoicing in such mysterious
| we'll being. Their souls seemed stepped in
gentle gayety. They .breathed deep the
sweet air Of the morning. For them the
noon sunlight flooded a new world where
| everything is interesting. And moonlight
and starlight stirred their. rejoicing hearts
from sentimental reverie to exaltation.
They were norphia habitues.
| Note that there is a barrier around the
| artificial paradise. The boy who smokes
his first cigar is not more sick and
sorry than the normal healthy person is
after a first dose Of the mysterious
drug. 1t is as if nature put a Danger
placard UP before it. Again and again,
after each attempt to take it, nausea
comes, with a distressing dry throat,
heavy head and headache, when the nor
NAL man or woman in miguided zeal tries
to enter the supposed land of delight and
tries to break down the barrier. 49, -.
Pain is an antidote to the first NOR
phia poisoning. So is, i ma less degree,
| insomnia. Nevertheless it is easy to see
| how few would persist thru it's nausea,
headache and lassitude, were not the
guiding hand of the physician held out
to them to direct them thru the hateful
labyrinth. 80 80. = +. +"
So it is with. Sibyl Sanderson. It is
related by her intimates how, at the out
set she rebelled against these first ef-
fects Of morphia. She had them fully,
for she had no pain to act as antidote
Then passes a mysterious and vague
period. Only the physician who sought
for his desired reaction can know
something Of its details. He did not an
ticipate that its reaction would be very
painful; but no one can gage these indi-
vidual susceptibilities. Some are much
more sensitive than others, in particular
the 'corebrales' and the artistica1ly i'm
aginative. " :: r.. -: y :.
We know there were struggles be-
tween patient and physician. now toe
late alarmed at the dire prospect. When
she insisted to have new Injections, dc