The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1885-04-23
THE QU1NIEE HABIT,
What an Observant Old Doctor HISS 10
Eay About IT.

Said distinguished medical practi.
tioner who he's grown gray in his profess.
ion, speaking. of the use quinine as
stimulant /, becoming o very common
habit among men and ladies in society:
"Yes, 1t Is unqueationably true that the
increase in the sales of quinine during
the past five years by retail druggists Is
very largely referable to what may ho
as frequent among women In society as its
hard work. And I may say to you,
though many will dispute It, that Of the
two the quinine habit, in its rayages,
when once thoroughly established, Ii
more difficult and moro dangerous In
every respect than the hahitual use of
opium or It's 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 propefties-
being; In very small doses, tonic and ner.
vine; and in moderate doses, directly
stimulant; In large doses, aedative and
soporiflc; and In very large doses, intox-
icating--prod:cing peculiar species of
drunkenness similar In its features 10
marked epilepsy, in which, while per.
forming actions and talking with the
coheronce of o person in the full possess.
ion of his senses, che victim ia really
perfectly unconscious of what he ii doing
and irresponsible. There Is no question
that the regular uRe of the drug as O
stimulant Is rapidly increasing among
the higher classes. The fact To one OF
the most lamentable that has come under
my notice for years. The way o man
gets into it in the first place is very aim.
pie. He feels little unstrung and ont
OF tune, perhaps, aud 70 consults tho
family physician, who suggests few
doaes OF quiniue:' In o day or two he
clever and bright; his physical energies
seem to have renewed their youth. Ella.
ted with tho results, whenever ho ieels
down.spiritsd or out Of sorts he resorts,
of course, to the remedy that has once
served his purpose 30 we'll and very
soon has acquired the habit Of using the
drug in regular daily doses. In three
months, go insiduous are its effects, the
quiniue habit is fully established, and
the probability JIG that the man Tor wo-
man as the case may be) has not five
years to live. Worse still; go peculiar
arc the effects Of the salt on the nervous
system, there is strong probability that
the victim will die OF suicide; for it il
angular fact that no tonic In the mate.
ria medica acts go directly and rapidly to
produce suicidal predisposition and Inn
pulse. AZ.
"Morphia has no such effect, deplora.
BILE as its ravages are. The mcrphia hab.
1t generally transforms truthful man or
woman into an inveterate liar III the
course of two or three years--a romancer
of the widest type. On tho other hand,
while qrinine produces no perceptible
effect on the veracity, it leads to q norv.
GUS irritability that is intolerable alike
to its victim and his associates, and fire.
quently ends In tho sudden development
of suicidal mania. Again, spatient may
be reduced to the verge of the grave by
morphia, and ssill recover remnant of
physical and nervous energy when the
drug has been eliminated from the sys.
tenn but whom once the system gives
wsJT under the cumulative influences of
quinine the breakdown Is irrevocable.
In the course of IN experience embracing
thirty-ive. cases Of the quinine habit in
Its latter stages, during the last two years,
I have never seen o case in which the
victim was good for anything after the
habit was broken, and, as O. rnle, the
patient collapses and dies If. the with.
drawal of the stimulant ia persevered In.
Knowing these facts, cannot tell You
how dread to prescribe quinine to men
o little tagged out with oYerWork, and !
think 1t is time practitioners began to be
as cautious with it as they are with NOR
phia." (: