Year: 1869




New York Correspondence Rochester Chronicle.


The use of the pernicious drug is no
confined to the men there are hundreds
and thousands Of women who are in til,
daily habit Of Intoxicating themselves Will
it, and they are found in all grades of soci
ETY., but chiefly among those who are no
dependent upon their own exertions fo,
their support. Some of the drug stores
uptown and in Brooklyn sell more opium
to women than to men, the latter buying
chiefly at the downtown shops.


Not long ago IL lady of one of the first
families was arrested on the street fo,
drunkenness and locked up in one of the
station houses. She had all the appear
ances OF being intoxicated, and the police
very naturally concluded that she was OF
the fair but frail class, and the best thing
to- do with her was to lock her up. 1t
turned out on investigation that she was
wholly innocent of having swallowed fusil
oil or anything Of the sort, but had only
been indulgng in opium. The affair was
hushed up, and the name of the lady did
not appear III print.


Two or three cases like this have oc.
CURED, and some of the police say they
have made arrests under the impression
that their subjects were suffering under
too heavy stress Of whisky. Very few of
the ladies who use opium venture into the
street while under its influence, and the
facts that these arrests occur in public,
shows that the habit is widely spread.
Many of those addicted to it conceal the
fact from their nearest friends, while
others are in the habit Of meeting in little
parties and having a social chew, Just as
some of the ladies down South used to in
dulge in social "dips."


Opium takes the place Of snuff. and the
parties generally get up to a high pitch Of
enthusiasm. AS opium does not lead to
head breaking and combative intoxication
like whisky or other drink, the fair crea
lures do not, save in rare cases, disturb
their neighbours while at these opium
seances.


An exception is sometimes found there
was one few months ago, when the in
mates of a house on Fourteenth street fell
to pulling each others hair, and commit
ting other breaches of propricty while un-
der the influence of opium. But then it
must be remarked that they were not, Mt
best, the possessors of good characters.
Men make less concealmcnt of the opium
habit than women, and from their more
frequent mingling in business affairs they
are more liable to detection.


| know several men in business who are
in the habitual use of opium, and gener-
ally carry neat little Jumps in their pockets.
The use Of the drug gives them certain
nervousness Of manner, which is probably
the first sign to be discovered. Any me.
tropolitan reader of this can probably call
to mind from one to half dozen men he
has met whose manner indicates that they
are no strangers to opium.


l know two editors who use great deal
of the drug one has not yet impaired his
faculties with it, though he will do so be-
fore long the other has taken so much of
the narcotic that his brain is supplied, and
his thoughts often wander. Still he writes
well and often brilliantly, and none who
read his productions would imagine that
they came from Il head that is frequently
more than two thirds insensible, while the
body to which it belongs is in full activity