The St. Mary banner. (Franklin, Parish of St. Mary, La.) 1889-1931, 1909-04-10

was of a peculiarly arduouS nature
with a great number OF night calls 10
more or less difficult cases, when III
Guided complicated midwifery and sur
gicdl cases This in the ordinary ma
ture of things was sufficiently Trying
and in my condition of course II was
still more SO. Indeed. it seems NIUE
short of a miracle that | managed Dolh
to do my work and escape death. one
evening after consulting hours | WAS
sitting solitary in my room, having
just injected an extra strong dose OIL
morphia and cocaine, when most
extraordinary feeling came over me-
feeling quite new. my method now
as | have explained, was to introduce
the needle into a distended vein. On
this particular evening | experienced
most extraordinary sensation OF eAai-
tatlon. | was lifted. SO to speak, onto
another plane OF existence. l seemed
to see myriads of shapes and hear the
sounds Of delightful music Some OF
the shapes were human; others the
most horribly grotesque. My person
ality seemed to be duplicated; that Is
to say, that myself. in proprla persona,
was extended full length on the cOuCh
in my consulting room, pale as death
and motionless, with eyes closed, While
what | now describe as my alter ego
was floating about in space
Remember. all this was taking place
in a room fully furnished, with profess
sional desk, chairs and table. At this
Juncture my hOuSekeepe- rang the cleo
trio bell; it had been my custom TO
lock my door on the inside. The sound
of the bell was quite clear to my double
self, but in an instant of time seemed
to resume my personality and rise up
from the sofa to answer the door The
message was the commonplace inform
alton that my supper was ready. l
looked at the clock and noticed that 1t
was 10 p. m.-my consultations usual
ly finished at 9.45, the whole of the
extravagant phantasmagoria had there
| fore lasted hardly quarter Of an hour.
Indeed | might justly say that, allow
ing time for the preparation of the
drugs and Introduction Of the needle
1t was hardly more than ten minutes,
| and yet it had seemed to me to be ages.
| This extraordinary mental condition
was now of frequent occurrence.
| l may state during this time that my
| appetite was fairly normal and my
! bodily health good, the only weakness
being loss of will power during the
periods between the doses of the drugs.
l found that the addition Of morphia
| prevented in a great measure the i'll
| effects of the cocaine by itself and al
! the same time produced the p]easur-
| able sensations l have endeayored to
! describe and the ecstatic condition eX-
perienced during the time the drug was
! circulating. One often hears from the
| believers in spiritualism OF what IS
! termed by those who are under con
troll of the astral body" and the AS
trail plane" Now the condition | have
described exactly portrays the most
eXtravagantly weird description OF a
spiritualistic seance with the eXtru-
sion of the mediums personality, so
to speak, and what spirituallsts de-
scribe as the astral body. l am now
|
ion things as they appeared to me dur
ing the hallucination produced by the
two drugs cocaine and morphia.
Having thus far dealt with the extra
ordinary sensations brought about by
their use, it is worth while to remem-
Der the terrible physical effects. When
the drugs are not procurable this Is
something almost indescribable. The
victim is what one would call abjectly
incapable Of any act Of volition; this
is of course the worst stage, and as
frequently happens in cases of those
with debilitated frames is the point
where death is imminent. The wretch
ed being strives to obtain the accustom-
ed drug without avail. Exhausted, he
lies for some time, frequently for
hours. After a time he rises from his
couch and seeks the renewal of the
injection.
This, | take it. is the critical period.
At this point the timely intervention
of a friend is necessary not wholly to
deprive the morpho-maniac-for such
he is-of his accustomed drug, but to
reduce the doses. A friend had offered
to help me in what had explained as
nv plan for a cure. My health was
breaking down, my practice gone. my
friends were beginning to look askance
at me. had still sufficient will power
left to carry out my intention. 1t is
important to those who have begun to
use drugs, at once to seek friend IN
whom the utmost confidence can be
nlaced and in whose hands the whole
affairs of ones life can be Implicitly
and unreservedly left, This is abso-
! oil