“‘The introduction of the hypodermic syringe has placed in the hands of man a means of intoxication more seductive than any which has heretofore contributed to his craving for narcotic stimulation. So common now are the instances of its habitual use, and so enslaving is the habit when indulged in by this mode, that a lover of his kind must regard the future of society with no little apprehension. It may well be questioned whether the world has been the gainer or the loser by the discovery of subcutaneous medication. For every remote village has its slave, and not unfrequently several, to the hypodermic syringe, and in the larger cities, men in business and in the professions, women condemned to a life of constant invalidism, and ladies immersed in the gayeties of social life, are alike bound to a habit which they loathe, but whose bonds they are powerless to break. Lamentable examples are daily encountered, of men and women, regardful only of the morphia intoxication, and indifferent to all the duties and obligations of life, reduced to a state of mental and moral weakness most pitiful to behold. “‘Usually the habit is formed in consequence of the legitimate use of the hypodermic syringe in the treatment of disease. Employed in chronic painful maladies for a long period, it is discovered, when an attempt is made to discontinue the injections, that the patient cannot or will not bear the disagreeable, even painful, sensations which now occur. More frequently, when the injections are to be used for a long time, the patient is unwisely intrusted with the instrument, and taught all the mysteries of the solutions and the mode of administration.’ “A study of the opinions and cases that I have collected and presented in the preceding chapters furnishes abundant food for thought; the more so, as nearly every physician in the world is using a hypodermic syringe with more or less frequency. Many are unquestionably using this instrument too often; are using it in cases where the same, or other remedies, by the mouth, would be equally efficacious, and certainly safer. Far be it from me to condemn the use of an instrument the employment of which has brought both temporary and permanent relief, sometimes cure, to thousands suffering the most intense agony. Its value in cases especially suited to it cannot be over-estimated; its use in cases unsuited to it, or where other means would answer as well, cannot be too strongly and heartily condemned. Death, syncope, alarming narcotism, and, perhaps, more important than all, that living death—the morphia habit—bids us choose our cases well, and continue its use for only so long a time as is absolutely necessary.