A Drop of Ether

1895

In Chemistry a Small Element Counts For Much In Results.

Among condiments alcohol must be reckoned. It is a pluralist condiment, however, and — it goes without saying — is a dangerous condiment in more senses than one. A good deal that has been said about alcohol might be urged against other condiments. Mustard, for example, if largely mixed with water and freely taken, produces vomiting and occasionally inflammation of the intestinal mucous membrane. Salt, even under circumstances when not counterbalanced by vegetable juices, induces a disease of hideous type. In respect of alcoholics, the result of their employment depends on the quantity and quality taken. Alcohol given quickly in large doses is a deadly poison. Diluted alcohol taken slowly and repeatedly during the day irritates the mucous membrane of the stomach and secondarily the neighboring organs and does violence to the delicate tissues. The nearer the fluid is to "absolute" alcohol the more injurious it is likely to prove.

But the combinations of alcohol with other substances besides water modifies its effect in some instances for the better, in others for the worse. In looking through a pair of spectacles, the glasses of which are tinted with one metal, the world seems of a fire tint; with another metal the world seems cold and ghastly, frozen and dead. Infinitesimal quantities of added matter, so to speak, entirely alter the properties of the man. The domain of the infinitely minute is a broad one. It was lately stated at a scientific meeting that a single drop of ether thrown on the floor of the laboratory would entirely prevent the success of experiments illustrative of certain electrical phenomena. A pinhole in the door of a photographer's "developing" room will ruin his freshly taken plates. — New Science Review.

Ether — Latest Vice in France

1910

Paris. — Compared to the new vice which has broken out in France, that of taking ether, drinking absinthe and injecting morphine are virtues. This most modern vice has already assumed abnormal proportions, probably because the sale of ether is free.

Consumers of ether begin by breathing its vapor. Soon this pleasing effect wears off, then they drink it, The consumption of ether is not confined to any special class of society. It is asserted that 40 per cent of the poorer classes who go to the dispensary of the prefect of police are ether fiends.

Physicians say that a pint and three-quarters is as much as anyone can safely take in a day. However, druggists say that they have customers who use about four times that amount.


Drink Scourge in France

What the French call "alcoholisme" has grown to be a dreadful scourge, and a direful portent for the future of the people. In some parts of France the very medical men must be consulted early in the day if they are to be found sober. — Church Quarterly Review.


"Thank God" for Faults!

Thank God we do not live with saints! We live with people full of faults, and it is excellent, for the faults of others serve us either by imposing a salutary constraint or by the lesson that they give. — Paris Figaro.

Ether Drinking in Russia — He Blew Up Their Wedding

1907

The Fatal Result of Festivities at a Trossno Wedding

The habit of ether drinking is extremely prevalent in some parts of Russia, as of east Prussia, and all the efforts of the authorities to combat the evil have hitherto been almost fruitless.

An idea of the extent to which the habit prevails may be gathered from reports given in the Russian newspapers of a recent accident which occurred at a place called Trossno.

A farmer celebrating his son's wedding, in the fullness of his hospitality, got in two pails of ether, says the Family Doctor. During the process of decanting the ether into bottles a violent explosion took place, by which six children were killed and one adult was dangerously injured and 14 others more or less seriously injured.


Teetotalers in the Navy

Speaking at the Kent Temperance congress at Tunbridge, Wells, England, recently, Rear Admiral Startin, declared that the finest shots in the British navy were teetotalers. This is further corroboration of the views Lord Charles Beresford has always maintained in this regard. It is a sign of the times that eminent naval officers are at the present day, almost without exception, strong advocates of temperance.