Martinsburg herald. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1881-1920, 1885-01-03
A TALK WITH A DRUGGIST.

the druggist after the inquiring reporter.
"Yes, there's something new every few
minutes. Here's list of new remedies
with high-sounding names that l have
been studying over. The able manu-
featuring pharmacist who introduces
them to the medical profession vouches
for them as being wonderful, but it is
not likely that even the names of two
thirds of them will be recalled two or
three years hence. Doctors are death
on medical novelties, and manufacture
ing pharmacists, knowing their weak
res. are always giving them something
new. The more rare and high-priced
remedy is, the surer it is to find favor
with the medical practitioner. The
number of roots and leaves that within
the past five years have been torn from
their primeval haunts in South Ameri-
can swamps and jnngles and Austria
liam forests is astounding. 1t begins to
look as if no guilty plant could escape.
There is not absolute safety even in the
darkest corner of Africa. Do you re-
member cundurango, advertised far and
wide few years ago by DIR. Bliss, of
Washington City, as a cure for cancer?
1t was wonderful because new. costly
and untried. To-day it is rarely used
and the profession have no faith in it at
all In this list of new remedies few of
them will prove of any value at all.
Here is the Judas tree, or red bud. 1t
was thrown out of the pharmacop9ia in
1910, and here it is again as new
remedy. The only good thing 1 know
of the Judas tree is beautiful piece of
poetry written about it. couple of
years ago by DR.. H. W. Taylor, of Terre
Haute.
California is now in high repute for
wonderful curative agencies culled from
the vegetable kingdom. Most of them
rejoice in exceedingly ornate names.
Here is the yerba santa, herb of
health; yerba bena, herb of beauty;
yerba reuma, whatever that means, and
many others. Among the recent cura-
tive fancies is duboisia, an Australian
plant similar in its properties to BELLA
donna. The Sandwich Islands furnish
a plant called tonga, from which we
have proprietary medicine called ton
galine, which has quite a run now,
probably for the reason that nobody
knows anything especially about it.
The lily of the valley, which, in Solo
mons time, toiled not, neither did it
spin, is now put into concentrated
liquid and credited with having control
of the action of the heart. Here's the
manaca, Brazilian weed of which lit
tie is known. For that reason it is gal
loped after by doctors, who are willing
to believe that it is a specific for rheu-
matiSm.
''One good thing may be said of Alas
ka. do not think she has given a sin
gle leaf, stalk. flower or root to our
Pharmaceutical acquisitions. 1t quite
reconciles me to the possession of those
barren leagues of ice and solitude.
among the unpleasant remedies that
are passing out of favor is propylamin,
made from herring brine, and about the
most nauseous smelling stuff in the en-
tire scope of materia medica. 1t is sell
dom used now. Among the most valu-
able contributions of chemistry to the
healing art that of salicylic acid, which
is used for many diseases, and in rheu-
matism has superseded almost every
thing else. The demand for it is great,
and for that reason it is fortunate that
science is able to furnish an artificial
supply, Kolb, a German chemist, now
making it from coal-tar. Others make
1t, but all under his patent. The veg
etable supply might be sufficient, but it
would be at such cost as not to allow
of its use in a fifth of the cases it is now
employed in. Have you any idea of the
number and Importance of the products
of coal-tarp Well, there's a long list of
them. Among them is substitute for
genuine benzoic acid, which formerly
was made of hippuric acid. horse urine,
and is now a coal-tar derivative. That's
better than horse urine. People are
more squeamish about such things than
they used to be. A hundred years ago
camels stale was a popular remedy.
"Guarana and jaborand are two
South American remedies that after
several years use continue in favor.
Jaborandi is now extensively used in
the form of the salt, pilocarpin in fevers.
1t was at one time claimed that it would
restore hair to bald heads / had
customer who tried it for long time,
and one day, after a couple of weeks
absence he came in with beautiful
head of hair. Did the pilocarpin do it?
| thought SO until he took the hair off
and showed me it was wig. Guarana
is nerve medicine much used for head
ache. 1t does not sell to the extent it
formerly did, the novelty having worn
off
Coca is another South American
plant which rejoices in the dgnified
name of erytbroXylon coca. Its active
principle is the alkaloid cocaine The
leaves of the coca have long been used
by the South American Indian noun
tain-climbers, who are said to do pro-
digiOus amount of work with its aid.