The Washington critic. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1885-1888, 1885-11-11
STILL MORE POISONING.
WILL THE BLAME BE FASTENED
ON THE DRUGGISTS OR THE
NUFACTURERS?
Scientific investigation.

HtitHNluN hnNfNNtkhliNus
IRON THE PHILADELPHIA RECORD.
The carclcssncss with which poisous
are handled has been unfayorably COM
mented 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 wide
spread in its effects than would he the
carclcssncss or thoughtlessncss of u
drug clerk There are twenty thousand
druggists In the United States, and
nearly all Of them are licensed to sell
liquor, In fact II may be assumed that
at least onc.sixth Of all the whiskey
consumed in the United States is sold
by druggists. Large quantities of 1t
are used as one of the ingredients in
physicians prescriptions, and while IL
may be true, as is sometimes claimed,
that there are doctors who do not pre-.
scribe alcoholic liquors in cases of
sickness, they are the exception
not the rule. All medical men
who are not preiudiccd know the
value of good liquor in sick room,
and order II freely in many cases,
such as feeble digestion of old people,
cholera infantum, cholera morbus,
acute dyspepsia, consumption, hem
orrhages and other lung troubles, and
to countcract the depression caused by
pneumonia, fever and in fact all in
flammatory diseases. But whiskcy is
not always put up with u prescription
IL 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 called upon to supply
the liquor, Women, from the peculiar
character of their organism, often need
stimulant, and, of course, 1t Is OBJ
tanned at the drug store; in fact, il may
he said that alcohol, in some shape OF
other, plays rs important part in
medical treatment as any drug in the
modern pharmacopUia.
Now it is somewhat strange tha
while medical men are constantly in.
sisting on the necessity of purity in
drugs, If they are to have the desired
effect on those to whom they are ad
ministered, they are positively silent as
to the character of the whisliey which
their patients secure at drug stores. /
is admitted, even by members of tho
trade themselves, that as q rule the
druggist handles the lowest, poorcs
and cheapest WHISTLES that are manu-
featured, liable as they are to be i'm
posed on like other people.
In recent conversation with d
wholesale liquor dealer, the write
learned several facts which induced
him to visit number of drug store
and purchase small quantity of tn
whiskey sold there; about dozen sam
pies were obtained, all of which wer
carefully subjected to analysis, and tn,
result obtained was certainly startling
vitriol, logwood, Crcosotc and Catcher
were found freely, while the coloring
matter was equally as poisonous a
that which is used in dcceiving peopl
with so-called green tea. Itwould no
be difficult even for the non-profes
sional mind TO form an idea as to tn
effects of such whiskcy upon the sys
TEN. Administered to sick peop
with their constitutions already en-
feebled by disease, or taken by ner
vous, delicate and over-worled women
the evil done must be terrible. Medi
cal men are not true to the obligation
which the almost sacred character o
their profession entails upon them, S
long as they even indirectly countenanc
such a state of things, and they ough
to join together in seeing that thei
druggists whiskey is as free from in
purities as his c0lomel or his quinn,
But, says some obiector, the best an
safest way would be for physicians neyC
to prescribe whiskey. Would this pre-
vent the patient from using it when hi
system Graves for it? Decidedly no
Besides, alcohol in spite of all that ma
be said to the contrary, is admitted b
eminent Psychologists to be an articl
of food, and necessary to the system
even when perfect health is enjoyed.
There are many people who occi
sionly feel the need Of tonic, but froI
some cause or other are opposed to tai
ing whiskey; such people general
comp omisc on some one of the hume
Gus bitters with which the market
flooded, laying the tlattering junction
their souls that they are using sOmt
thing surely vegetablc,' composed
, fact of samples from the laboratory {
nature. There is no eXaggeration
saving that as n rule these nauseol
compounds consist chiefly of the vile
and cheapest whiskey, carefully di
guised by some flavor, but destructiN
to the system. Any eXhilaration tn
may be felt after taking these deco
tons is simply due to the presence
the alcohol, and not to any tonic, an
when the effects wear Off, the liver
even more sluggish, the workings of Il
heart more irregular, and the receptiN
qualities of the stomach feebler thI
ever.
: For many years the experiments
the scientists chemists and druggis
had failed to eliminate from alcoh'
the fusel oil poison, and it was not unit
, the Duffy's pure malt whiskey was pr
, duced that a perfectly pure distillatiC
for medicinal purposes was obtaine'
, and which is now adopted by physician
, everywhere in their practice, and di
| pensed by druggists on their prescri
, tions.
: There now remains no excuse fl
, druggists handling and selling poo
, and vicious article, as they will ha'
| in Duffy's the purest and best, upo
r which thp health and welfare of Il