Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1910-08-19

Gus families.
AT the present time the use of the
alkaloid has been supplemented by
other vices. In the seaport towns OPT
UNI smoking has been introduced from
the East, and its ravages are general.
The use OF cocaine, which is much
more dangerous, is also making great
progress, and tends to replace-al-
though more often to complicate-the
habit OF taking lnorphla. In England
1t is more difficult to get at the facts
We preter-when ii is unpalatable-to
ignore the truth, but our record proba-
bly, approXlmates more closely than We
allow to that of other nations. The
present writer can vouch for the fire.
quency of hypodermic stimulation
among English society ladies and those
who deny these facts and shake their
heads with horror at the bare mention
of drugs very often resort to them,tWe
know the English reluctance to ac-
knowledge anything that will impeach
responsibility, but there is reason to
suppose that drug addiction of all kinds
is making steady progress in England.
and in many cases is replacing the use
of alcohol. Similar developments have
already occurred in different parts of
the British Empire. In some districts
or Ireland the use of w:iskey has been
replaced almost entirely by ether. In
India the deterioration of quality and
the advance in price of native spirits
drove the population en- masse to OPT
um and bhang, to which a small mino-
rlty only had been previously addicted.
the excise revenue from alcohol being
seriously diminished.
Among addictS by far the greater
nurtbo1 are medical men. A drug sue-
clallSt, great authority on the sub
Ject, informed me that most of his pa
tlents were doctors. Then come liter
airy men and intellectuals generally.
and all those who in the battle for life
flnd that they require artificial stimu-
lation. Sir Clifford Allbutt relates the
case of an English Cabinet Minister
who admitted his dependence on NOR
phia, and John Chilcote, MP, was
not the only drug taker in the house of
Commons.
The French not being accustomed TO
conceal their vices, it is no secret that
in recent years several poets-Verlaine
ard Catulle Mendes, for instance
sought inspiration in drugs. Among
artists was the case of Wagner who
according to Leon Daudet. transcribed
his morphia dreams into music. as De
Quincy did into the finest prose poe
try The power Of morphia upon the
imagination Is shown in the works of
NletZsche. morally a slave to his I'M
po'slons, but who in his drug decisions
became the apostle of self control An
other instance of the same irony Of fate
Is mat OF the celebrated William Will
n"riorcc, who devoted his life to the
championship 81 freedom, and fell him
self into the bondage of opium
1t will be seen from these examines
that morphia is not only taken by base
degraded people and inebriates. or by
ueSenerates, as is generally SUPPOSED
III rs, on the contrary, the intellectual
ana the great-men of genious and
desneres superieurs-who fall under tho
seduction from overconfidence in their
powers to resist the formation of hab-
u.s. not so much the ordinary degener-
Gtes.
Tue responsibility lies, to a great OK
tent with the medical profession who
prescribe too carelessly narcotic and
stimulant drugs and who, when the
patient is cnSlaved, are unable 10 holm
hirr.
Wheh the secrets of the last century
come to be known, it will be found thar
many politicians have been takers of
drugs, ana on one of two occasions. at
ieast' the Fate of important political
movements has depended on the hypo-
cermic svr'1g. 1t is well known that at
c!ltlcal junction a French Prime
minister expected to make a great and
uecislVe speech on his colonial policy
out froke down lamentably, the fiasco
ending in the defeat of the Govern
ment, with disastrous consequences to
the French in the East. The official
explanation was sudden illness b,t
those lin the know" were perfactIy
aware that the Premier had come r.
the Chamber without the stimulant nm
on which he relied in moments of ain.
Guilty. N'"
case in which the morphia habit
probably saved France from a revoIr-
tlon was that of General RouIanpar
Inc General. it may be remembered
partiN IN consequence of the ilI-advisad
persecution of the Government was
erected Deputy by overwhelming ma
1uri'les IN great many constituencies
me ministry. fearing his influence ac.
cused MN of high treason. Had he
s'"o' MS trial, Boulanger would no
uonDt nave been carried in triumnb
from tae court to the Presidency. bnt
learning that ne was to be arrested he
new 10 Belgium, leaving his party in
'ie greatest confusion The prefext
e'n was mat he had taken this
curse ,,,' 10 avoid political assassination
ne real reason was, however. that he
,, not FISK arrest; for dependent
"pon ''orphia, lie would, once in the
power Of his enemies, have been cor,
b.me s 10 accept any terms they might
nave dictated.-vanity Fair.