OPIUM-EA TING. 2 1 7 



up in the form of pills; (2) laudanum, made by dissolving 

 opium in alcohol; (3) paregoric, a liquid containing sev- 

 eral ingredients, of which opium is the most important; 

 (4) morphia, and solutions containing it. 



3. The Opium Habit. Opium is perhaps the most 

 valuable drug at the disposal of the physician. On the 

 other hand, it is one of the most hurtful substances used 

 by mankind. It may be that it does not do as much 

 harm in the United States as alcoholic drinks, but only 

 because not so many persons have taught themselves to 

 crave it. Used constantly, it is as surely fatal, and the 

 habit is perhaps even harder to break, for it may be in- 

 dulged more secretly, and its effects are not so readily 

 recognized. There is this, also, to be said: most of 

 those who kill themselves by drink are persons of weak 

 will, while many a one of highest gifts and nobles,t char- 

 acter, who would loathe the low vice of drunkenness, has, 

 before knowing the danger, become the hopeless victim 

 of opium. Using the drug, at first, as ordered by a 

 physician for the relief of pain, he (or- she, for more 

 women than men are given to opium-excess) is scarcely 

 conscious of danger, until the repeated employment of 

 the drug has created an almost irresistible craving for its 

 continuance. Most medical men now fully recognize 

 the danger, and only order prolonged use of opium with 

 great caution. 



4. The Diseased Conditions Produced by Regular Use 

 of Opium. The first effect is deadening of sensibility, 

 accompanied by mental exaltation, if the dose be small. 



3. What is said of opium ? Of its harmfulness as compared with 

 alcohol ? Why is opium more disastrous from one point of view ? 

 How is it now given by physicians? 



4. What are the first effects of a dose of opium? What is the con- 



