If aught were asked for as to further proof of the widespread extent of opium addiction in this country, it could easily be given by citing the number of individuals engaged in vending the various nostrums, each of which, it is asserted, has the only true claim to merit as the one genuine, sovereign cure for this phase of human ill. It is now about seventeen years since an illiterate bricklayer in a Western city—who made some pretensions to the healing art by virtue of a small stock of herbs stored in a little back apartment—was struck with the shrewd idea that in this peculiar field lay. a mine which, perchance, might be worked to no little pecuniary profit. Acting on this impulse, the opiate mixture was compounded, advertising circulars vaunting the nostrum made their appearance, the aid of the press was secured, and business began. It grew apace, and