Effects of Opium and Nicotine.
The report that Senator Carpenter is killing himself with nicotine by smoking twenty cigars a day is a reminder that others are suffering from the same sort of excess. Some of the smokers in Congress carry cigars in their mouths all the time. There are Senators and Representatives who never walk down the avenue without the stump of a cigar between their fingers. One prominent man in Congress is rapidly killing himself with opium, and one of the door-keepers of the House is at the point of death from the same cause. The public man I refer to is a popular and respected man, whose strange ways have long been a wonder to those who do not know of his secret habit. He is a kind and genial gentleman, but he is liable to pass his best friend with a blank stare half an hour after he has met him pleasantly in conversation. His fits of abstraction and depression amount almost to craziness. At times he is so odd and queer that his associates are puzzled by his conduct. Opium is eating up his life, and he will not last long. It is a pity, for his is one of the best intellects in Congress, and he might render much useful public service if he would.