212 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



HABIT-FORMING DRUGS, ETC. 



Ill the Jacksonville Times-Union for Oct. 

 13, 1914, a full-page illustration is given to 

 the matter of habit-forming drugs. Below 

 is a clipping from the article, together with 

 the lengthjr heading: 



AMnRIOAN DRUG FIENDS OUTNUMBER CHINESE; ONE 



PERSON IN UNITED STATES OUT OP EVERY 23 



USES SOME OPIATE, INVESTIGATORS FOR 



MRS. W. K. VANDERBILT, SR., DISCOVER. 



The greatest drug-using people in the world are 

 the American people, and not the Chinese. That is 

 the discovery of e.xperts working under the direction 

 of Mrs. W. K. Vanderbilt, Sr., who, since January, 

 has been working against the use of drugs in tlie 

 United States. 



To-day 4.1 per cent of the Chinese are drug-users 

 in some form. In America, 4.45 per cent of the 

 population use drugs. 



Mrs. Vanderbilt began her fight on the nation- 

 wide use of drugs in the New York legislature, 

 where she fought for a bill prohibiting the sale of 

 cocaine, heroin, and morphine. She has given large 

 sums of money to organizations opposing the drug 

 habit in her efforts to obtain legislation against its 

 sale. 



The entire civilized world has been shouting about 

 the horrors of the opium traffic of China. The 

 Chinese were the originators of opium, it is believed. 

 In China it was found 200 years ago that 6 per 

 cent of the people were drug victims. By consistent 

 fighting against the use of drugs; by laws limiting 

 its manufacture and sale, the use of drugs there 

 has dropped to 4.1 per cent of the population in 200 

 years. 



In America, however, the use of the drug is on 

 the increase. 



Laws preventing the transportation of cocaine 

 from one state to another are sought by Mrs. Van- 

 derbilt; and in working for federal laws her experts 

 have compiled data to show the enormity of the 

 drug habit. 



Drugs are used by all classes. The criminal 

 class is addicted to its use. Cocaine is injected into 

 the arm. Opium is smoked and taken in other ways. 

 Sometimes the drugs are snuffed. They are taken 

 to drive away the feeling of drowsiness sometimes. 

 Country doctors acquire the drug habit because of 

 their long hours of work. They take drugs to keep 

 themselves awake, and take other drugs so they 

 can go to sleep quickly. 



Society women are known to take drugs to drive 

 away weariness in pursuing their social conques,ts. 



In America, drug-users quickly take to cocaine 

 and heroin. The drug causes the user to turn crim- 

 inal and to die. Five years is the average life of 

 the cocaine fiend. 



No other vice renders its victim so dangerous. 

 Opium, morphine, and hasheesh send their victims 

 searching for solitude ; but a sniff of cocaine, after 

 lifting its victim into a half hour's rosy overesti- 

 malion, drops him into the streets and alleys in a 

 state of dangerous melancholia. So brief is the 

 drug's effect that it takes from $4 to $5 a day to 

 satisfy a cocaine addict. 



" Cocaine addiction is the easiest habit to acquire 

 and the hardest to cure," says Dr. Podstata, s 

 Chicago drug expert. " Nothing so quickly deterio- 

 rates its victim or provides so short a cut to the 

 insane-asylum," says Dr. Towns. Because it takes 

 such a quick, deadly grip on its victim, there are 

 some physicians who refuse to administer any co- 

 caine whatever, even for legitimate medical practice. 



May the Lord be praised for one more 

 woman of wealth who uses her wealth and 

 influence to protect and reclaim, if possible. 



(lie " dope fiend.'' With the world-wide stir 

 now going on in regard to the luaaer, I 

 think these dangerous agents will very soon 

 be under strict surveillance. One reason 

 for the statement above is that, while we 

 are having a mighty reform over in China, 

 America has to a considerable extent been 

 getting worse and Avorse. May God help us. 

 But what argument in favor of the 

 American saloon, so far as " personal liber- 

 ty " is concerned, will not apply to the 

 '' personal liberty " of the unf rtunate 

 wretches described above? 



URINARY TROUBLES, GALLSTONES, ETC. 



When I ventured to give an opinion in 

 regard to this matter on page 832 of our 

 Oct. 15th issue I knew I was getting off 

 from my beat; and you may recall that I 

 said I should be glad to have some regular 

 physician straighten us out. A good doctor 

 from away off in northern Michigan has 

 very kindly answeied this invitation, and 

 gives us the following: 



Mr, A. I. Root: — In your Health Notes in Glean- 

 ings for Oct. 15 you discuss urinary troubles and 

 gallstones ; and the conclusion to be drawn from 

 your article is that the sediment of retained urine 

 causes gallstones. Kindly allow me to correct you 

 as well as your correspondent. Gallstones form in 

 the gall-bladder — a small sac that hangs just under 

 the liver, and which is really a reservoir for surplus 

 bile which is formed in the liver. This gall-bladder 

 has a duct which empties this bile or " gall " into 

 the duodenum, and it is down this duct that gall- 

 stones pass and cause all their trouble. This duodenum 

 is the first division of the small intestine, and so you 

 see tlie gallstones can have no relation whatever to 

 the kidneys, urethra, or bladder. Now I will tell 

 you and your correspondent just what the trouble 

 is, and why it is best to empty the bladder at night 

 if the inclination comes. 



LU'ine, when fresh, is acid in reaction, and in this 

 acid condition it will not decay; but on standing it 

 will soon become alkaline, and then will decompose. 

 In older people it often becomes alkaline before 

 leaving the bladder, due to the inability to e.xpel all 

 of the urine.* This retained urine is called "residue 

 urine," and this will soon decompose, causing an 

 irritation of the bladder, and the bladder must be 

 emptied to obtain relief. Now, don't you suppose 

 that your experience of eating acid fruits has had a 

 tendency to keep the urine acid longer, and thus 

 allow it to be retained? A good many cases of so- 

 called " gravel " in the bladder are simply cases of 

 retained residue, alkaline and decomposed. 



Hart, Mich., Oct. 19. L. P. Mungbr, M. D. 



* If file readers of Gleanings will excuse me 

 (especially tlie younger ones) I wish to repeat some- 

 thing fliat our good friend Terry said some time ago. 

 It is rather plain talk for a home journal, I admit; 

 but in view of the importance, especially to elderly 

 people, I think best to give it. The part I recall is 

 something like this. In speakin? of the troubles we 

 have been discussing, our good friend remarked that 

 those afllicted in this way should take plenty of time 

 to get rid of " the very last drop " of urine remain- 

 ing in the bladder. This would tend to prevent what 

 the good doctor in the above calls " residue urine." 



