Lines near Wilmington.—At Wilmington in the Hands of the Blue Coats.—Friend Lost.—Still very Sick with Fever.—Determined to go North.—Efforts to get North.—On board Ship.—Ho, for Annapolis.—Incidents of the Voyage.—Annapolis.—Getting Better.—Stomach Trouble.—Sent to Baltimore.—Furloughed Home

44   CHAPTER VI. At Home.—Nothing but a Skeleton.—A good Imitation of Lazarus.—A digression upon the Subject of Sleeplessness.—A well-intended Fraud on a Hospital Nurse.—Return of Sleep.—Improvement in Health.—Stomach the only Difficulty.—A Year passes.—Stomach Worse.—Constant Headache.—Much Debilitated.—Awful Suffering.—Bodily Agony Debilitates the Mind.—Sufferings Intolerable.—Physicians and Remedies Tried without Avail.—Forlorn Hope and Last Resort.—Better.—Doubts as to Treatment.—Suspicions Confirmed.—Uncomplimentary Remarks concerning an M. D.—Uncomfortable Discoveries and Reflections 50   CHAPTER VII. The War Begins.—Struggles to Renounce Opium.—Physical Phenomena Observed in attempting to Leave Off the Drug.—Difficulty in Abjuring the Fiend.—I Fail Absolutely.—Some Difference with De Quincey regarding the Effects of Opium.—A Preliminary Foresight into the Horrors of Opium 61   CHAPTER VIII. De Quincey’s Life rather than his Writings the Best Evidence of the Effect of Opium upon Him.—Disapproval of his Manner of Treatment of the Subject in His “Confessions.”—From First to Last the Effect of Opium is to Produce Unhappiness.—The Difference between the Effect of the Drug taken Hypodermically and Otherwise, Explained.—The various Effects of Opium, Stimulative and Narcotic, Described.—The Effect of my First Dose at the beginning of Habit.—Remarks of De Quincey on his First Dose.—My own Remarks as to First Dose.—Difference between Opium and Liquor.—Stimulation is followed by Collapse.—Melancholy from the Beginning.—Nervousness and Distraction of the Intellectual Powers.—Sleeplessness.—Different and Peculiar Influences of the Drug Detailed.—Pressure upon the Brain from Excessive Use of Opium.—Distress in the Epigastrium.—The Working of the Brain Impeded 70   CHAPTER IX. De Quincey versus Coleridge.—Stimulation and Collapse Considered.—The Use of Opium always to be Condemned.—Coleridge Defended.—Wretched State of the Opium Eater.—An Explanatory Remark 77   CHAPTER X. The Delusions and Miseries of the First Stages of Opium Eating 82   CHAPTER XI. Later Stages.—The Opium Appetite.—Circean Power of Opium.—As a Medicine.—Difference between Condition of Victim in Primary and Secondary Stages 91   CHAPTER XII. The Address of the Opium Eater.—How he Occupies his Time.—The Refuge of Solitude and Silence.—Indifference to Society or Company.—Disposition, Predilections, and General Conduct 96   CHAPTER XIII. On Energy and Ambition as Affected by the Opium Habit 98   CHAPTER XIV. Opium versus Sleep.—Manner of Taking Opium.—Different Considerations Relating to the Habit.—A Prophetic Warning 105   CHAPTER XV. Difficulties of Writing this Book.—An Attempt to Renounce Opium in the Later Stages of the Habit Described.—Coleridge and De Quincey.—Animadversions upon De Quincey’s “Confessions” 115   CHAPTER XVI. Conclusion public@vhost@g@gutenberg@html@files@43012@[email protected]#Page_129" class="pginternal"