XXVI TOBACCO. 



most flagrant vices on this coast. But we hope, 

 in the near future, to have an institution for the 

 treatment and cure of the victims of the opium 

 habit." 



Some one has expressed the doubt whether the 

 introduction of hypodermic injections, with their 

 frequent and fearful results, is not, on the whole, 

 proving a curse to mankind. But may not the 

 difficulty lie in their frequent inconsiderate pre- 

 scription and their sometimes reckless application ? 

 This is a matter of such grave importance that I 

 cannot forbear summoning witnesses from the 

 medical faculty. 



Dr. Vanderbeck, in a treatise on "Narcotic In- 

 ebriety," frankly admits, " We cannot get away 

 from the fact that we are sometimes a little careless 

 in our use of narcotics." He quotes Dr. Charles 

 C. Cranmer, of Saratoga, X.Y. : "I am grieved to 

 find that physicians possessing a supposed liberal 

 education, and knowing fully the terrible effects of 

 the continued use of opium and morphia, prescribe 

 the same in the most reckless manner. I use the 

 word reckless because I am bound to believe, from 

 actual facts before me, that the above drugs are 

 constantly prescribed for every simple ache or pain 

 coming under their professional care." 



Dr. Vanderbeck continues : "Dr. Cranmer affirms 

 that, within a radius of half a mile of his office, he 

 knows of a dozen friends with the opium habit, 

 and in the majority of them it came about from the 



