St. Paul daily globe., 1884-07-05
THE :oUININE HABIT.
What an Observa,,t Old Doctor Has to Say
of its Increaee, and the Danger of its
I,,du{0ence.

What an O5seryant Old Doctor Has to Say
of its Increaee, and the Danger of its
Indulgence.
Said distinguished medical practitioner,
who has grown gray in his profession, speak
ing of the report that the use of quinine as
stimulant is becoming very common hab-
it among men of business and ladies of So
ciety:
eyes, it is unquestionably true, that the
great increase in the sales of quinine during
the last five years by retail druggists is very
largely referable to what may be styled the
quinine habit; and it is fully as frequent
among women in society as it is with men
whose nerves are oyertaxed by hard work
And 1 may say to you, though many will dis
pute it, that of the two the quinine, habit is
more rapid in its ravages when once thor
oughly established, more difficult to break
and more dangerous in every respect than
the habitual use of opium or it's preparations
Few save practicing physicians are aware of
the tremendous potency of this drug in its
effects upon the nervous system AS you
know, depending upon the quantity taken,
quinine possesses four very distinct proper
ties-being in very small doses, tonic and
nervine; in moderate doses, directly stimu-
liant; in large doses sedative and soporific;
and in very large doses, Intoxicating pro-
ducing peculiar species of drunkenness SIM
liar in its features to masked epilepsy, in
which, while performing customary actions
and talking with the conference of person
in full possession of his senses, the victim is
really perfectly unconsc GUS of what he is do
ing and totally irresponsible. There is no
question that the regular use of the drug as
a stimulant is rapidly increasing among the
higher classes, and the fact is one of the
most lamentable that has come under my
notice for years. The way man gets into
it in the first place is very simple. He feels
little unstrung and out of tune, perhaps,
and so consults the family physician, who
suggests a few doses of quinine.
In day or two he feels singularly i'm
proved; his brain is clearer and bright; his
physical energies seemed to have renewed
their youth. Elated with the result, when
ever he feels down-spirited or out of sorts,
he resorts, of course, to the remedy that has
once served his purpose SO well, and very
soon has acquired the habit of using the
drug in regular daily doses. In thee
months, so insidious are its effects, the qui-
nine habit is fully established, and the prob
ability is that the man (or woman, as the
Worse still, so peculiar are the effects of the
salt on the nervous system, there is strong
probability that the victim will die of suicide;
for it is singular fact that no toxic in the
materia medica acts so directly and rapidly
to produce suicidal predisposition and i'm
pulse. Morphia has no such effect, deplora
BILE as its ravages are. The morphia habit
generally transforms the most truthful man
or woman into the most inveterate liar in
the course of two or three years-a romancer
of the widest type. On the other hand, while
quinine produces no perceptible effect on
the veracity, it leads to nervous irratability
that is intolerable alike to its victim and his
associates, and frequently ends in the sud-
den development of suicidal mania. Again,
a patient may be reduced to the verge of the
grave by morphia, and still recover a rem
nant of physical and nervous energy when
the drug has been eliminated from the sys-
TEN; but when once the system gives way
under the cumulative influence of quinine,
the breakdown is irrevocable. In the course
of an experience embracing thirty-fve cases
of the quinine habit in its laier stages, dur
ing the last two years, l have never seen a
case in which the victim was good for any
thing after the habit was broken, and as a
rule, the patient collapses and dies if the
withdrawal of the stimulant is persevered in.
Knowing these facts, | cannot tell you how
dread to prescribe quinine to men little
tagged out with oyerwo.k, and think it is
time that medical practitioners began to be
as cautious with it as they are with morphia.