, 1885-03-19
COSTLY DRUGS.
A WHITE POWDER WORTH THREE
HUNDRED DOLLARS AN OUNCE.
Isattlssnake Virus as aa opiate-Medieins
from the Beaver-oinseng. Pumpkin
Seeds, Jobs Teans. Life Everiast-
ing and Other Remedies


l&fGW - SUM-
A doctor from one OF the western cities,
who has a wide practice as al ocnlist and
aurist, entered a drug store the other day
and purchased n small bottle Of cocaine, tho
new anmsthetic used with such success, in eye
operations. He said he had prescribed 1t for
a diseased car. The tiny bottle half full OF
whitish powder cost him s..
Provincial physicians In this country arc
very enterprising," said the druggist when
the doctor had gone out. They have al
ready begun the use OF COCAINE In all SOC
tinns OF the country. and 1t Il to many drug
gists a profitable drug, because they can
charge a fancy price for 1t. Iquote it at
over $500 an ounce"
"A well-stocked drug store must be sup
piled with a great variety of medicines now
II its proprietor hlls prescriptions for all
schools, . continued the druggist. @One day
we had a call from a homeopathic physician
for rattlesnake virus. The doctor had been
called in to zee a patient who was soon to
die Of cancer and who had taken ordinary
opiates until they seemed 10 have but little
effect. We did not have the medicine, but
the next time l saw the doctor he said that
he had obtained it, and twenty minutes
after taking a very low dilution of the virus
the sufferer sank into a sweet sleep. The
olden days, when all sorts of insects and ami
mails were used in medicine, were fruitful Of
some beneficial discoveries. The poison Of a
bee, when applied externally by a bee, is not
particularly beneficial; but 1 know a doctor
who claims wonder for 1t In cases Of scarlet
fever.
1.-THE beaver furnishes a remedy known as
castor, used to quiet spasms, and the musk
OK provides musk. II comes in the form Of
q coarse black powder, and the best OF it Is
quoted at about $40 an ounce. We sell con-
siderable quantities OF 1t to the Chinese, who
are said TO use it for burns. 1t is believed
that the Chinese have a knowledge Of many
valuable remedies which would benefit
science, but, although we have been able 10
purchase some of their mystsrious-looking
drugs as curiosities. they nave refused to
lmpart the secret of their properties. Some
idea Of their notions with respect TO medi-
cine can be gained when 1t Is known that
they regard the wild ginseng-root as sacred
to the healing of royalty, and as a spiritual
body, capable OF volition and of concealing
itself to escape capture. Its guardians are
the tiger. wolf, leopard, and snake. When
a member Of the royal family falls
sick, as did the empress some time ago, a
party Of heroic men go in search Of the root,
whose presence Is finally revealed
at night by a halo over the spot OF conceal
ment which Is marked, the root being dug
out on the following day. The cultivated
ginseng, or jen shen, is not believed by the
natives TO te endowed with the properties
OF tie wild, but is used freely by the sub
lects. II IA believed hat its chief value lies
in it wonderful Incorporating power, pro-
longing life when a patient has begun to sink
into his last sleep, and in giving him time to
arrange his Affairs.
Among the expensive drugs Is ergotin,
which retail at tho rate OF about SEQ an
ounce. 1t Is a fungus growth found on rye
in Normandy. A similar growth on rye in
America contains very little ergotin, less,
indeed, than the smut ON Indian corn. As
thors are several growths which yield
erzotin in Il greater or less degree, SO there
arc -eVeral South American plants that pro
duca jaborandi, the drug now used some
times to produce sweating.
"ln the list Of expensive drugs the products
Of the Calabar bean may be mentioned.
PLY sostigmine. which is rated by many as
the best remedy in spasmodic affections, re-
tails at over 5000 an ounce. A~pomorphine,
while not TO be compared with the drugs
that | nave mentioned, Is expensive. 1t wa
discovered by a man namsi Wright, who
subjected morphine to a treatment that
entirely changed it, chamicai qualities, 80
that instead of being an opiate it is one Of
the most powerful emetics known, and Is
given only in extreme cases, like poisoning
As l said at the outset, an ~enterprising
druggist has to keep an extensive variety Of
medicines, the cheapest as well as the most
expensive. Pumpkin seeds are frequently
sold as a remedy for tapeworm, and with
the male fern as a vermifuge. A doctor
came in here tbs other day ani called for
some everlasting life. Singular thing for a
doctor to prescribe, wasn't It'll In medicine
it is IA North American plant Jobs tears il
another queer rcmedy."