666 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



\QVY small — not over ten per cent. When a person once becomes 

 an opium-slave, the habit usually holds through life. 



I was told many stories about the injurious effects of morphine 

 and opium upon the morals of those who use it. One peculiarity 

 of a majority is that, whenever a confirmed user of the narcotic 

 obtains credit at the drug-store, he at once stops trading at that 

 place and goes elsewhere. All the druggists know this habit 

 very well, and take pains to guard against it. Whenever a cus- 

 tomer asks for credit for a bottle of morphine, the druggist in- 

 forms him that the store never trusts any one ; but if he has no 

 money with him the druggist will gladly give him enough to last 

 a day or two. In this way the druggist keeps his customer, 

 whereas he would have lost his trade if the present had not been 

 made at the time credit was refused. 



Of course, I heard much about the irresistible desire which 

 confirmed slaves to the habit have for their delight. There is 

 nothing too degrading for them to do in order to obtain the nar- 

 cotic. Many druggists firmly believe that a majority of the seem- 

 ingly motiveless crimes which are perpetrated by reputable peo- 

 ple are due to this habit. In pursuit of opium the slaves will 

 resort to every trick and art which human ingenuity can invent. 

 There is a prisoner now confined in the Concord (Mass.) Reforma- 

 tory who has his opium smuggled in to him in the shape of Eng- 

 lish walnuts donated by a friend. The friend buys the opium 

 and, opening the walnut-shells, extracts the meat, and fills up the 

 spaces with the gum. Then he sticks the shells together with 

 glue and sends them to the prison. 



At present our clergymen, physicians, and reformers are ask- 

 ing for more stringent laws against the sale of these narcotics. 

 The law compelling every person who purchases opium or other 

 poisons to " register," giving his name and place of residence to 

 the druggist, has been in force in Massachusetts for several 

 years, and all this time the sales have increased. No registration 

 law can control the traffic. 



The parties who are responsible for the increase of the habit 

 are the physicians who give the prescriptions. In these days of 

 great mental strain, when men take their business home with them 

 and think of it from waking to sleeping, the nerves are the first 

 to feel the effects of overwork. Opium effects immediate relief, 

 and the doctors, knowing this, and wishing to stand well with 

 their patients, prescribe it more and more. Their design is to 

 effect a cure. The result is to convert their patients into opium- 

 slaves. The doctors are to blame for so large a consumption of 

 opium, and they are the men who need reforming. 



Two means of preventing the spread of the habit suggest 

 themselves to every thoughtful person : 



