The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1884-07-05
The Quinine Habit:

| Said a distinguished medical prac-
titioner, who has grown gray in his
profession, speaking of the report that
The use of quinine as stimulant is be-
coming very common habit among
men of business and ladies in society:
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 overtaxed by hard work. And |
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 roperties-being, in very small
doses, tonic and nervine; in moderate
| doses, directly stimulant; in large
doses, sedative and soporific; and
in very large doses, intoxicating-pro
ducing a 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 dong and
totally irresponsible. There is 10 ques-
ton that the regular use of tn drug as
a stimulant is rapidly increasisg among
the higher classes, and the fct IS one
of the most lamentable tha' has come
under my norice for years. The way a
man gets into it in the ffst 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 quinne. In day
or two he feels singula'ly improved;
his brain is clever and bright; his phys
zeal energies seem to nave 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 verr soon has &C
CURED 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 MAJ Cor 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 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. Morphia
has no such effect, deplorable as its
ravages are. The morphia habit gen
orally 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 irritability that is in
tolerable alike to its victim and his as
sociates, and frequently ends in the
sudden development of suicidal mania.
Again, patient may be reduced to the
verge of the grave by morphia, and still
recover remnant of physical and
nervous energy when the drug has been
eliminated from the system; 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-five
cases of the quinine habit in its latter
stages, during the last two years, [ have
never seen case in which the victim
was good for anything after the habit
was broken, and, as q rule, the patient
collapses and dies if the withdrawal of
the stimulant is persevered in. Knowing
these facts, cannot tell you how |
dread toprescribe quinine to men little
tagged out with overwork, and think
it is time that medical practi TONERS
began to be as cautious with it as they
are with morphia. IN. Y. Commercial
Adrert5Ser.