Rensselaer Union, Volume 7, Number 48, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 19 August 1875 — Opium-Eating in England. [ARTICLE]

Opium-Eating in England.

Attention was partially drawn to the subject of opium-eating in the United Kingdom so long ago as 1844 by an inquiry that was made into the state of large towns in Lancashire; and since that time there is every reason to believe that the evil has largely augmented. The increase in the quantities of the raw material imitortec: would alone be sufficient to render this probable; for whilst in 1852 the importation amounted to 114,600 pounds, it had grown to 356,000 pounds in 1872. No doubt a large portion of this enormous quantity is employed in the manufacture of morphia or other alkaloids, and is either exported or employed for legitimate medicinal purposes; but it is difficult to account for an increase in twenty years of 200 per cent.' except on the supposition lliat the drug is more largely used as a narcotic than is generally believed. The facility with which this form of vice can be concealed renders direct evidence on the subject difficult to obtain: but such evidence as can be procured tends to prove that"the above supposition is correct. We have recently been informed by the medical attendant to the work-house in one-of our larger cities that a week rarely passes without a case of opium-eating coming to his knowledge among those who seek admission to the work-house; and that he has known women when suflering from the depression consequent upon tlieir enforced abstinence even go dow 7 n on their knees and beg that he would administer to them an opiate Again, there is reason to believe that opium is a favorite stimulant with many underfed and overworked artisans ana laborers; arid from inquiries made by parochial officials, clergymen and others this would appear to be especially the case in agricultural districts. In die fenny districts of Lincolnshire, a belief hiring prevalent that opium acts as a preservative against the effects of a damp climate, many of the inhabitants have in this way become addicted to its use. Another. and even more reprehensible, form of the opium evil among the lower classes is to be found in the practice of administering sixithing mixtures to young children for the purpose of keeping them quiet. In one instance a because her child was unwell, has been known to place a piece of crude opium in its mouth to suck, the death of the child being naturally the consequence ; and though cases of such gross and culpable ignorance as tliis are no doubt rare, it is certain that the a&ninistration of soothing-sirups and cordials is too commonly resorted to. ®ln large manufacturing towns, where mothers are often employed in factories during the day, their infants are frequently placed for the time in the care of nurses, ana these women seldom feel any compunction in administering an opiate to a child who is troublesome. It cannot be too widely known how greatly such a practice tends not only to the direct increase of infant mortality, but also to the permanent injury of fiie constitution by inducing convulsions and other similar nervous diseases. Opium in one of its forms enters largely into the composition of many of the pun-killers and patent medicines so freely advertised for domestic use in the present day. and for this reason the greatest care is needed in having recourse to any of them. Taken; 1 perhaps, in the first instance to alleviate the torments of neuralgia or toothache, what proves to be a remedy soon becomes a source of gratification, which the wretchedness that follows on abstinence renders increasinely difficult to lay aside. The same must be said of Narcotics, such as bromide of potassium and hydrate of chloral, frequently resorted to as a remedy for sleeplessness; the system Slickly becomes habituated to their use; ey can then be relinquished only at the cost of much suffering. Indeed, the lastmentioned of these two drugs obtains over the mind a power which may be compared to that of opium, and is, moreover, liable to occasion the disease known as chloralism, by which the system ultimately becomes a complete wreck.— Chambers' Journal.

The insanity dodge far criminals has been elevated to the status of a fine art, as exemplified by the case of a woman in Massachusetts who attempted to shoot a doctor for refusing to marry her. It was evident that she was sane—because she missed him. If she had killed him she would have been acquitted on the ground of insanity. In either case she wholly escapes punishment .