Evening star., 1911-01-15

dangerous. His habits had been remark
ably good.
while his teeth We're being drawn and
tinkered with gained an immediate drag
upon him. Each day he went forth from
the dentists walking upon air The drab
tinge had been taken out of life. lie mad
found a superior ether-such are these
distorted imaginings-in which to swim.
Life was sweet in a new fashion. The
sting Of dreary days had been removed.
The aspect Of common things changed.
tinctured with Colour de rose.
At the end Of fre days, when the dem
tist was through with him. my friend was
cocaine fiend, with such incredible
Swftness does that drug enchain its vic
Tins. There have been men who frivoled
with morphine for years without ever
being claimed as victims by that drug.
OF course they traversed a dangerous
path. but they got back to the open road.
There are men who occasionally smoke
opium, and only occasionally. They, too.
trifie with their lives and destinies: but
the '.hop-smoking" habit doesn't actually
shackle them.
But il is different with cocaine. That
drugs appeal is uncannilS immediate.
And 80 this man. launched thither by a
dentist who. il is fair TO say. probably
had no suspicion that his patient pos
sessed temperament that would make
him a prompt victim 10 the drug went his
cocaine path. Ii was the shortest imas-
Unable path for him. He was stark
maniac within a year. Then he was sent
10 the insane asylum up the state. For
the few short months during which
he was constantly under the influence OF
cocaine lie attempted 10 write at frequent
intervals Such is the hallucinatory
power of the drug that he imagined the
stuff he thus wrote was in his nnest VEN.
1t was the purest uninteligibe dllNel:
mere words strung incoherently together.
/ have read some of those written maun-
derings: read them with ] know not what
feeling Of moErnfulness that this clean
hearted able chap. whose clear. crisp.
concise. able copy ] had known from
nv earliest manhood thus lad been
pulled into the ditch by SO inconsequent
and vet terrible thing as pinch of
white powder
Then there was another old friend. this
one. too destined for distinction in his
scientific speciality, who went the cocaine
path few wears ago lie was well un-
der forty when tho drug claimed him lie
belonged to a genuinely distinguished. not
AN imaginarily distinguished. family of
the south. He put in five years at the
University of Heidelberg. Then he -'ent
a number of years in the hospitals OF
Vienna. lie pursued a medical specially.
became an authority in his specially; the
recognized in him master in his line.
expected huge things from him with his
progression and maturity.
Soon after his return 10 the United
States where the scientific fraternity
welcomed him s one of the coming big
,nen. he was sent off to the tropics on a
,urest connected with his speciality. In
The low Iatitudes lie was stricken wIth an
tropics in it's attacks upon unacclimated
folk. To alleviate his pain, German
doctor fell into the way of pumping CO.
caine into him. The scientist. in agony
from his complaint. was will'sg. as men.
even scientists. will be. to be relieved of
anguish by any means
He came back to the United States a
few months later. so altered In manner
and appearance that his friends barely
recognized him. He was hopelessly Il
victim OF cocaine. He went TO pieces
with startling rapidity after his return 10
this country. He became literally a
tramp. His people had him put III :;and-
torium after sanatol ium for treat.aent
He resumed the habit as soon as he
emerged from each. month or so be-
fore he became violently insane and was
placed in an insane asylum | saw and
conversed with him.
| was having my shoes polished, and
was seated in the chair # stan'l OF
Broadway a shamblng. hdeous carica-
ture of man with a long matted beard
approached and in quavering voice ask
sed me for few pennies. II was my
friend, tho scientist. whom | remembered
such a few brief years before fine. up
standing, brawny. broad-shouldered. dis
misunderstanding fellow: perfectly hand
some, man elatc, set apart, right III the