The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1885-04-23
THE 0UININE HABIT.
What an Observant Old Doctor Has to
Say About 1t.

Said distinguished medical practi-
toner who has grown gray in his profess.
ion, speaking of the use quinine as
stimulant is becoming a very common
habit among men and ladies in society:
eyes, it is unquestionably true that the
increase in the sales of quinine during
the past 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 its
with men whose nerves are overtaxed by
hard work. And I may say to you,
though many will dispute it, that of the
two the quinine habit, in its ravages,
when once thoroughly established, is
more difficult and more dangerous in
every respect than the hahitual use of
opium or its preparations. Few, save
practicing physicians, are aware of the
potency of this drug in its effects upon
the nervous system. As you know, de-
pending upon the quantity taken, quinine
possesses four very distinct properties
being, in very small doses, tonic and ner.
vine; and in moderate doses, directly
stimulant; in large doses, sedative and
soporifc; and in very large doses, intox.
icatipg-producing peculiar species of
drunkenness similar in its features to
marked epilepsy, in which, while per-
forming actions and talking with the
conference of person in the full possess
ion of his senses, the victim is really
perfectly unconscious of what he is doing
and irresponsible. There is no question
that the regular use Of the drug as a
stimulant is rapidly increasing among
the higher classes. 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 Sim
pie. He feels little unstrung and out
of tune, perhaps, aud 30 consults the
family physician, who suggests few
doses of quinine. In day or two he
feels singularly improved; his brain is
clever and bright; his physical energies
seem to have renewed their youth. Ella.
ted with the results, whenever he feels
down-spirited or out of sorts he resorts,
of course, to the remedy that has once
served his purpose so we'll and very
soon has acquired the habit of using the
drug in regular daily doses. In three
months, so insiduous are its effects, the
quiniue habit is fully established, and
the probability is that the man Tor wo-
man 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
a singular fact that no tonic in the mate
ria 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 hab.
it generally transforms a truthful man or
woman into an 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 nerv.
Gus irritability that is intolerable alike
to its victim and his associates, and fire.
quently ends in the sudden development
of suicidal mania. Again, patient may
be reduced to the verge of the grave by
morphia, and still recover a remnant OF
physical and nervous energy when the
drug has been eliminated from the sys.
tenn but when once the system gives
way under the cumulative influences of
quinine the breakdown is irrevocable.
In the course of an experience embracing
thirty-fve csses of the quinine habit in
its latter stages, during the last two years,
I have never seen case in which the
victim was good for anything after the
habit was broken, and, as rule, the
patient collapses and dies if the with
drawal of the stimulant is perseyered in.
Knowing these facts, I cannot tell you
how dread to prescribe quinine to men
little tagged out with overwork, and l
think it is time practitioners began to be
as cautious with it as they are with NOR
nhio "