Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1885-11-21
STILL MORE POISONING.
VIII the Blame be Fastened ON the
Druggists or the Manufacturers.


SCIENTIFIC INVESTIGATION.
From the Philadelphia Record.
The careiessness with which poisons ara ham
died has been unfavorably commented on by
the press, and practical suggestions are made as
to methods by which to avoid such accidents in
the future. But people are liable also to another
danger, which is more widespread in its effects
than would be the carelessness or thoughtless.
ness of drug clerk. There are twenty thou.
sand druggists in the United States and nearly
all Of them are licensed to sell LIQUOR in fact IL
may be assumed that at least one-sixth of all
the whiskey consumed in the United States is
sold by druggists. Large quantities Of it are
prescriptions, and while IL may be true as is
sometimes claimed, that there are doctors who
do not prescribe alcoholic liquors in cases
of sickness, they are the exception-not the
rule. All medical men who are not prejudiced
know the value of good liquor in a sick room,
digestion OF old people. cholera infantnm
cholera morbus, acute dyspepsia, consump-
ton, hemorrhages and other lung troubles,
and to counterfeit the depression caused by
pneumonia, fever and In fact all inflammatory
diseases. But whiskey is not always put up
with prescription; it is sometimes ordered to
be taken separately, and in that case there is
nothing more natural than that the druggist
who furnishes the medicine should also be
from the peculiar character of their organism
often need q stimulant, and of course il is OBJ
tanned at the drug store; in fact it may be said
that alcohol in some shape or other plays as
important part in medical treatment as any
drug in the modern pharmacop9ia.
Now it is somewhat strange that while medi-
cal men are constantly insisting on the ncces.
sity OF purity in drugs, If they are to have the
desired effect on those to whom they are ad-
character of the whiskey which their patients
secure at drIg stores. 1t is admitted even by
members ms, OF the trade themselves, that rule
The druggist handles the lowest, poorest, and
cheapest WHISTLES that are manufactured, liza
bic rs they are to be imposed on like other peo-
pie.
In recent conversation with a wholesale
liquor dealer. the writer learned several facts
which induced him to visit a number of drug
whiskey sold there; about dozen samples
were obtained, all of which were carefully sub
Jected to analysis, and the result obtained was
certainly startling, Nitriol, logwOOd, creosote
and catechu were found freely, while the color
ing matter was equally as poisonous as that
Mnish is usea in peopls with soeaed
the non-professiOnal mind to form an idea as to
the effects. OF such whiskey upon the
their constitutions already enfeebled by
disease taken by nervous, delicate
and over-wOrked women, the evil done must be
terrible. Medical men are not true to the obi.
cations which the almost sacred character of
their profession entails upon them, So long as
they even indirectly countenance such state
OF things, and they ought to join together in
seeing that their druggists whiskcy is as free
from impurities as his caIomel or his auinine.
ADut, says some ODIectOF, Gne UeSC ana safest
would be for physicians never to prescribe whis.
Key. Would this prevent the patient from using
II when his system Graves for it? Decidedly not
BESIDES alcohol in spite of all that may be said
TO the contrary, is admitted by eminent physi-
olOgiSts to be an article of food, and necessary
TO the system, even when perfect health is en-
joyed.
There are many people who occasionally feel
the need of a tonic, but from some cause or
other are opposed TO taking whiskey; such
people generally compromise some one of
the numerous bitters with which the market is
Hooded. laying the fatteTing JUNCTION to their
souls that they are using something surely
vegetable. composed in fact OF samples from the
In saying that as rule these nauseous com
pounds consist chiefly of the vilest and cheap
est whiskey, carefully disguised by some flavor
but destructive to the system. ANY exhilara,
ton that may be felt after taking these decoc.
tions is simply due to the presence of the al
c0ho and not to any tonic and when the
enects wear off the liver is even more sluggish
the workings of the heart more Irregular and
the receptive qualities of the stomach feebler
than ever.
For many years the experiments of the sci
entlsts, chemists and druggists had failed to
eliminate from alcohol the fusil oil poison and
it was not until the Duffys pure malt whiskeT
was produced that perfectly pure distiIlatinn
Tor medicinal purposes was obtained and whiOI,
is now adopted by physicians everywhere in
their practice, and dispensed BY dr0upist. on ~,
their prescriptions. oA
There now remains no excuse for ,ruro;sts
handling and selling poor ana 'vicic,ns .Tiicie
as they Will have in DuffyiS the nnreSt md
best, upon which the health and welfare Of
the community so much depend