Drugs that enslave : The opium, morphine, chloral and hashisch habits / By H.H. Kane.

  • Kane, H. H. (Harry Hubbell), 1854-
Date:
1881
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Drugs that enslave : The opium, morphine, chloral and hashisch habits / By H.H. Kane. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the Harvey Cushing/John Hay Whitney Medical Library at Yale University, through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the Harvey Cushing/John Hay Whitney Medical Library at Yale University.

    38/238 (page 38)
    Alcoholic stimulants are used by some habitues to in- crease the effect of the morphia, which it does to a certain extent. They delude themselves into the belief that they will be enabled to thus reduce the amount of morphia used, but in the majority of cases this is a fallacy. Those who prefer laudanum and paregoric to opium or morphine often do so on account of the amount of alcohol contained in these preparations. I knew a gentleman, some years ago, now dead, an Episcopalian minister, who became addicted to the use of alcoholic stimulants. His excesses were so frequent and so degrading that it was found neces- sary to expel him from the church. Sobered by the blow, yet unwilling to entirely abandon his habit, he seized upon the expedient of using large quantities of laudanum, thus getting the effect of both opium and alcohol. He died some two years after, from taking an overdose, at the end of a spree, the first and last one in the two years. His tombstone is a monument to blasted hopes, unsat- isfied ambition, a life ill-spent, and points a very pregnant moral to those who knew him. Let a man count well the cost before he takes service with a master who is only satisfied with a blasted life, here and hereafter. THE CUTANEOUS SURFACE. The effects of these drugs upon the skin may be divided into those relating to color, sensation and nutrition. The sallow, cadaveric hue so often seen in advanced cases is partly due to discoloration by the biliary matters, which are not properly excreted by the liver, and partly to a condition of malnutrition, so often seen in persons suffering from cancerous disease. In case there is serious interference with the working of the kidneys, the sallow color becomes less distinct, diluted expresses it well, and