AMMa°yUt*m2RM  }    Mrs.  Winshics  Soothing  Syrup,  etc.  223 
spoonfuls  from  ten  o'clock  on  the  5th  until  8  A.  M.  on  the  7th  ;  con- 
sequently it  got  over  half  a  grain  of  morphia  in  the  space  of  forty-six 
hours.  As  susceptible  as  children  are  to  the  influence  of  opium,  it 
seems  almost  impossible  that  the  child  could  have  lived.  In  fact,  we 
know  that  it  could  not  have  lived,  had  not  the  tolerance  of  the  poison 
been  induced  by  previous  doses  in  lesser  quantities.  We  may  add 
that  there  are  very  few  children  at  the  age  of  six  months,  who  would 
not  be  poisoned  to  death,  were  they  to  take  the  syrup  as  directed, 
(namely:  six  months  old  and  upwards,  one  teaspoonful  three  or  four 
times  a  day  until  free  from  pain,)  unless  a  tolerance  of  the  drug  be 
induced  by  its  previous  administration  in  small  doses.  The  morphia 
in  a  teaspoonful  of  soothing  syrup  is  equal  to  about  twenty  drops  of 
laudanum.  Here  we  have  thousands  of  mothers  and  nurses,  ignorant 
alike  of  the  ingredients  and  the  effects  of  this  deadly  nostrum,  direct- 
ed to  give  a  child  six  months  old  morphia  equal  to  twenty  drops  of 
laudanum,  while  a  physician  would  not  dare  to  give  a  child  of  that 
age  more  than  three  drops. 
Dr.  Murray,  in  the  article  already  referred  to,  says  :  "  I  have  as- 
certained that  there  are  about  one  hundred  thousand  two-ounce  bottles 
of  it  sold  annually  in  this  city,  containing  about  one  hundred  and 
eighty  thousand  grains  of  morphia,  which  are  given  annually  to  the 
babies  of  this  State." 
If  the  babies  of  this  State  consume  two  hundred  thousand  ounces  of 
soothing  syrup,  it  is  but  fair  to  assume  that  there  is  seventy-five  times 
that  amount  used  in  the  whole  United  States,  which  would  make 
15,000,000  ounces  of  syrup,  or  about  14,000,000  grains  of  morphia. 
Setting  aside  the  direct  cost  of  this  nostrum,  it  would  be  scarcely  pos- 
sible to  estimate  the  damages  which  the  people  of  the  United  States 
sustain  indirectly  from  its  use. 
How  much  the  early  resort  of  our  youth  to  tobacco  and  alcoholic 
stimulants  is  due  to  the  previous  use  of  the  opium  contained  in  this 
nostrum  is  probably  not  realized.  But,  that  it  has  much  to  do  with 
it,  any  one  can  believe,  who  has  seen  with  what  avidity  the  opium 
eater,  when  deprived  of  his  opium,  will  fly  to  alcohol,  ether,  hashish, 
tobacco,  or  anything  that  will  lull  the  eternal  craving  of  the  appetite 
for  something,  other  than  wholesome  food.  It  would  be  also  impos- 
sible to  estimate  the  number  of  children  it  sends  to  the  grave  before 
they  reach  their  second  year.  But  that  the  administration  of 
14,000,000  grains  of  morphia  annually  to  the  babies  of  the  United 
