A TERRIBLE HABIT.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XVI, Issue 268, 10 November 1881, Page 1

A TERRIBLE HABIT.

Of all conditions of bondage, there is none in which tbe shackles are rnoro securely riveted tban those of the slave to the use of morphia, or as he is commonly called by the uncharitable, the "opium fiend." Afc an autopsy recently held in a neighboring city, at which were present a number of prominent physicians and a representative of the Gull, all^were standing arou' d the eerpse, watching with admiration the skilful manner with which a young medico haDd.'ed the scalpel, when sud° denly the young mau stopped, took a small case and a vial containing an amber liquid from his pocket and there, to the consternation of ail, he proceeded tn take an hypodermic injection of morphine. Eemoving irom the small case, which he handled carefully and almost caressingly, a small goidplated syringe, he adjusted, with great apparent care, to its nozzle a fine perforated gold needle, about one and onehalf inch in length, filled the instrument with the morphine, bared his arm, inserted the needle for its full length under his epidermi?, and injected the morphia into his arm. He then carefully replaced the instrument in its case, and taking up the scalpel, completed the finest operation ever witnessed by those present. The perfect abandon with which the young man, in the presence of comparative strangers, displayed his degradation, caused the reporter to require of the ' opium fiend ' how he acquired the baleful habit. The young doctor bared his arm, wbich was scarred from shoulder to wrist with the punctures made during the years- of bis slavery, by the needle. His leaden eye and heavy limbs, sunken cheeks, saffron skin and weak mouth were only too perfect indices ol his history. Said he : "I was n student in an Eastern college. I was afflicted with pulmonary trouble and also had severe head-aches. I had great difficulty in obtaining Bleep, until one day a prominent physician injected one-sixteenth of a grain of morphia into my arm That night I slept, oh ! so sweetly, and had such benutiful dreams. The nest day I felt refreshed and after that whenever I was sleepless or in pain I took hypodermic injection. Gradually I increased the dose, until I took an injection of four grains each three hours. "Did you ever try to discontinue tbe use of the drug ?" "Ob, yes ; 1 used to go without; it for a night, but when 1 would get up in the morning I lelt as if there was something wanting. My head would ache, and I would plunge it into a bowl of water, but obtain no relief. The feeling is a peculiar one. The ody thing that I can compare it to is the burning pain of a felon." 'Do you ever expect to break youiself of the habit ?" "Ob, yes (drearily). lam trying to, bufc no man eau break ifc off unless he has some cue to remain with him all the time, and by slow stages reduce the amount of the drug he useß." "What do you consider the cause of the acquirement j

of the habit by eo many persons ?" "Old fogy physician?, who prescribe morphia indiscriminately to their patients, young and old, whenever thay complain of pain or sleeplessness. 'But,' sighed the victim of the drug, aa he slowly took his implements of destruction from his pocket and bared his scarred arm, "I am breaking myself of it."