Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1885-02-14
QUEER AND COSTLY DRUGS.
A White Powder Worth $500 an Ounce
Rattlesnake Virus as an Opiate.
From the New York Sun.

From the New York Sun.
A doctor from one of the western cities, who
has q wide practice as an oculist and aurist en-
tered q drug store the other day and purchased
q small bottle Of cocaine, the new anesthetic
used with such success in eye operations He
said he had prescribed it for diseased ear. The
tiny bottle, halffull of whitish powder, cost him
S..
provincial physicians In this country are
teri said the the
gun the use of cocaine in all sections Of the
country, and it is to many druggists a profitable
drug, because they can charge fancy price for
it, I quote it at over $500 an ounce.
"a well-stocked drug store must be supplied
with great variety of medicines now II its pro-
tinued the druggist. zone day we had a call
FROM homeopathic physician for rattlesnake
virus The doctor had been called In to to see
had taken ordinary opiates until they seemed
to have but little effect. We did not have the
said that he had obtained it, and that twenty
minutes after taking very low dilution Of the
virus the sufferer sank into a sweet sleep. The
olden days, when all sorts of insects and anil
mails were used in medicines, were fruitful of
some beneficial discoveries; The poison Of
particularly beneficial; but know doctor who
claims wonders for 1T in cases of scarlet fever.
'Ihe beaver furnishes remedy known as
provides musk. It COMES in the form of a coarse
black powder, and the best of it is quoted at
about $40 an ounce. We sell considerable
dse it FOR burns. 1t is believed that the Chinese
have knowledge Of many valuable remedies
which would benefit science, but, although we
have been able TO purchase some Of their myS-
demonstrating drugs as curiosities, they have
refused to impart the secret of their properties.
Some idea of their notions with respect to med
icine can be gained when it is known that they
healing Of royalty, and as spiritual body,
escape capture. Its guardians are the tiger,
wolf, leopard, and snake. When member OF
the royal family falls sick, as did the empress
some time ago, party of heroic men go in
search of the root, whose presence is finally
revealed at night by halo over the spot of con-
on the following day. The cultivated ginseng,
or jen shen, is not believed by the natives to be
endowed with the properties of the wild, but is
its chief value lies in its wonderful recuperating
power, pf0longins life when patient has begun
time to arrange his affairs
"ln mentioning animal products as drugs
should, perhaps, have spoken OF ambergris
deposit of grayish matter, which is found occa-
sionaly In the head of sperm whale. 1t sells
often for $50 an ounce at retail. 1t is said that
one whaler found deposit Of $50 pounds in a
"Among the expensive drugs is ergotin, which
retails at the rate of about $50 an ounce. 1t is
fungous growth found on rye in Normandy.
A similar growth on rye in America contains
on Indian corn AS there are several growths
which yield ergotin in greater less degree,
so there are several South American plants
that produce jaborand1, the drug now used
sometimes to produce sweating.
In the list Of expensive drugs the products of
the CALLAHAN bean may be IL mentioned. Physo-
stigmine, which is rated by many as the best
remedy in spasmodic affections, retails at over
5000 an ounce. Apomorphine, while not to he
compared with the drugs that have mentioned
is expensive. 1t was discovered by a man
named Wright, who subjected morphine to a
treatment that entirely changed its chemical
one of the most powerful emetics known, and is
given only in extreme cases, like poisoning. AS
said at the outset, an enterprising druggist has
to keep an extensive variety of medicines, the
cheapest as we'll as the most expensive Pump
kin seeds are frequently sold a remedy for
tapeworm and with the male fern as a vermi-
fuge. a doctor came in here the other day and
called for some everlasting life. Singular thing
for doctor to prescribe, wasntit? In medicine
It Is a North American plant. Jobs tears is an