AN OP11711 EXPERIENCE.
[To THE EDITOR OF THE " BEEOTATOE."] SIR,—The letter from " M.D.," which you published on October 15th, reminds me of a friend of my childhood, and the ingenious way in which he cured himself of the habit of taking morphia. He had contracted it in the Hudson's Ray Com- pany's territory, where he had a serious illness, in a district beyond medical help. Finding it cling to him after his re- covery, he was determined to cure it, and let a drop of sealing- wax fall into his glass every day before pouring in the drug_ Before long, his glass was full of sealing-wax, and his last dose of morphia, one drop. He lived to be an old man, and the habit never revived. Doctors will sometimes give morphia to allay the restlessness that is so painful in extreme old age ;. and the temporary relief makes it a boon that the patient will not give up again. But the reaction is often so dreadful, and causes so much suffering of mind and body, that one should never allow the habit to be contracted if one can help it. Of course, I am not now speaking of cases where there is great pain, and where the only thing to do is to keep the patient as.
little conscious as possible.—I am, Sir, &c., E. B.
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