An address on ether-drinking : its prevalence and results delivered before the Society for the Study and Cure of Inebriety / by Ernest Hsrt.

  • Ernest Abraham Hart
Date:
[between 1877 and 1897?]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: An address on ether-drinking : its prevalence and results delivered before the Society for the Study and Cure of Inebriety / by Ernest Hsrt. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    extent to which the habit prevails from the statements made by competent observers, who speak from personal knowledge. Thus the Rev. Dr. Carter, Rector of Cookstown, has publicly stated that “more than two tons of ether are openly passed along the railways each year into this district, while a larger quantity is conveyed secretly by rail or by private conveyances into the localities mentioned. In two small villages I know of two traders who sell over 500 gallons each annually. The habit grips whole families, and becomes hereditary and spreads with rapidity. Since 1 began my inquiries and called attention to the subject it has seized a new district.” Again, the same autho¬ rity says: “ It is given by traders to school children and mes¬ sengers, and in some towns and localities causes on Sundays the largest part of intoxication.” In a letter to me, Dr. Carter says, with reference to these statements (which were made in the Dublin Daily Express): “ On every item mentioned I have abun¬ dant proof from most reliable authorities.” All my correspon¬ dents, who are able to speak from personal experience, have con¬ firmed the statements made as to the prevalence of ether drinking at Cookstown, Draperstown, Maghera, and the other towns so often mentioned. Dr. C. H. P. D. Graves, of Cookstown, writes: “ Being medical dispensary officer of the Cookstown District, I am brought into close contact with all classes. I find ether drink¬ ing more prevalent among the very poor than among the well-to- do, I suppose oa account of cheapness ; but even if a person who is comfortably off begins drinking ether, he is sure to reduce him¬ self to poverty, the habit being as pernicious as opium eating.. On Saturday evenings (market day) the atmosphere along the roads is simply impregnated with the fumes of ether, so many of the market people drink it.” Another informant, speaking of South Derry, says that the doctor to whom he was apprenticed some twenty years ago told him that “ the practice of drinking ether in the district prevailed to such an extent that there were scattered over the country what was known as ether houses, where a cheap and impure article was sold.” My correspondent goes on to say: “ From information re¬ ceived from a reliable source, I believe the practice of drink¬ ing ether has grown considerably since then.” Another corre¬ spondent, speaking of the districts surrounding Cookstown, Moneymore, and Draperstown, says: “ Its odour is often to be felt in people’s breath, and even the very atmosphere is loaded with it in some places, and especially about fair times. Its odour seems to cling to the very hedges and houses for some time.” Dr, Cordier Marmion, J.P., writing from Dungannon, says: “The coroner for this division of the county held an inquest some few months ago in or about Pomeroy, where a person’s death was- caused by an overdose of ether. He commented strongly in his address to the jury on the frightful abuse of ether drinking in this part of the North.” A practitioner at Cookstown writes: “ I have noticed its odour in the breath of hundreds of people. I know and have known perhaps well on to a hundred people who take it pretty freely.You would be surprised to kno w how many comparatively respectable people take it, and do not seem at all ashamed to do so. Of course, these generally say they take it for ‘ wind in the stomach,’ ‘ pain in the head/ ‘ giddiness/ etc., using it as a domestic medicine, and often keeping a con¬ siderable supply in their homes. It is often drunk to intoxication' at wakes and dances, especially in the more backward and moun¬ tainous districts.” Dr. Hetherington, of the Londonderry District? Lunatic Asylum, writes: “ Its use was kept in check for some
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