St. Tammany farmer. [volume] (Covington, La.) 1874-current, 1884-08-09
The Quinine Habit.

S9lu q UlStlnHulSueu InculCdl pIhC-
titioner. who has grown gray in his
profession, speaking of the report that
the use of quinine as stimulant is be-
coming a very common habit among
men of business and ladies in society:
..Yes, 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 overtaxed by hard work. And l
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 thoroughly established, more diff
cult to break, and more dangerous in
every respect than the habitual use OF
opium or its 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 dis
tinct properties in very small
doses, tonic and nervine; in moderate
doses, directly stimulant; in large
doses, sedative and soporitic; and
in very large doses. intoxicating-pro-
| ducing peculiar species of drunken
ness similar in its features to masked
| epilepsy. in which, while performing Gus
tomary actions and talking with the CO
herence of a person in full possession of
| his senses, the victim is really perfectly
unconscious of what he is doing and
! totally irresponsible. THERE'S no ques-
ton that the regular use of the drug as
stimulant is rapidly increasing among
/ the higher classes, and the fact is one
| of the most lamentable that has come
under my norice for years. The way q
man gets into it in the first place is
very simple. He feels little unstrung
and out of tune, perhaps, and SO con-
suits the family physician. who sug-
gests few doses of quinine. In day
or two he feels singularly improved;
his brain is clever and bright; his phys
ical energies seem to have renewed
their youth. Elated with the result,
whenever he feels down spirited or out
of sorts. he resorts, of course, to the
remedy that has once served his pur-
pose so we'll: and very soon has ac-
auired the habit of using the drug in
regular daily doses. In three months,
so insidious are its effects, the quinine
habit is fully established, and the prob
ability is that the man (or woman, AS
the case may be) has not five years to
live. Worse still, so peculiar
are the effects of the salt on the
nervous system, there is a strong
probability that the victim will die OF
suicide; for it is singular fact that no
toxic in the materia medica acts so di.
rectly and rapidly to produce suicidal
predisposition and impulse. Morphis
has no such effect, deplorable as its
ravages are. The morphia habit gen.
orally transforms the most truthful
man or woman into the most inveteratt
liar in the course of two or three year:
"a romancer of the widest type. On
the other hand, while quinine produce:
no perOeptible effect on the veracity, II
leads to a nervous irritability that is in
tolerable alike to its victim and his as
sociates. and frequently ends in The
sudden development of suicidal mania
Again, a patient may be reduced to th'
verge of the grave by morphia, and still
recover a remnant of physical ant
nervous energy when the drug has beel
=, eliminated from the system; but wher
, once the system gives way under the
cumulative influence of quinine thu
breakdown is irrevocable. In the cours
of an experience embracing thirty-tiv
, cases of the quinine habit in its latte
stages. during the last two years, hav'
never seen a case in which the victim
was good for anything after the habi
was broken, and, rs rule, the patien
collapses and dies if the withdrawal G
the stimulant is persevered in. knowin
: these facts, l cannot tell you how
dread to prescribe quinine to men littl
. tagged out with overwork, and thin
it is time that medical practitioner
began to be as cautious with ii as the
|, are with morphia. ~. Y. Commercial