278 NARCOTICS. 



In forfeiting the respect of others, respect for self is lost and 

 character is overthrown. Meanwhile the passion for drink 

 grows absorbing; no sacrifice is too costly which secures it. 

 Swift and swifter is now the downward progress. A mere 

 sot, the man becomes regardless of every duty, and even inca- 

 pacitated for any which momentary shame may make him 

 desire to perform. 



" For such a one there is but one hope, confinement in an 

 asylum, where, if not too late, the diseased craving for drink 

 may be gradually overcome, the prostrated will regain its 

 ascendency, and the man at last gain the victory over the 

 brute." 



NARCOTICS. 



Gould's Dictionary of Medicine, one of the very best 

 authorities, thus defines narcotic : " a drug that produces nar- 

 cosis" and narcosis, as " the deadening of pain, or the pro- 

 duction of incomplete or complete anesthesia by the use of 

 narcotic agents, such as the use of anesthetics, opium, and 

 other drugs." It is common, however, to treat of chloroform, 

 ether, chloral hydrate, etc., in a group by themselves under 

 the designation Anesthetics. 



The Century Dictionary thus defines narcotic : " a sub- 

 stance which directly induces sleep, allaying sensibility and 

 blunting the senses, and which, in large quantities, produces 

 narcotism or complete insensibility. Opium, Cannabis Indica, 

 hyoscyamus, stramonium, and belladonna are the chief nar- 

 cotics, of which opium is the most typical. Direct narcotics 

 . . . either produce some specific effect upon the cerebral gray 

 matter, or have a very decided action on the blood-supply 

 of the brain." 



Some authorities class alcohol with the narcotics. 



