The Highland weekly news. [volume] (Hillsborough [Hillsboro], Highland County, Ohio) 1853-1886, 1885-05-13
THE NEW ANESTHETIC
COCAINE A CURE FOR DRUNKENNESS
AND OPIUM EATING.
Various Curious Substances and EHpon.
sivo Drugs-Antlpyrin, HyOscynmin,
Erseni-Cnlabnr Bean, Musk, Gin
seng, Etc. Metals Used.
LChlcnen Naval

lJhicngO NewR.l
What is cocaine hydrochloride. the
new an, sthetic. worth per ounceY" usked
q News reporter Of a local druggist
Five hundred dollars, he replied,
"and it is not likely to be any cheaper
for some time to come However 50
small quantity of the solution is re.
quired for each operation that the cost to
the patient need not be very groaty"
why is it so CXpensive?'
Because the salts of cocaine had. be.
fore this new demand arose. but verv
limited sale in tu,s country and wholesale
dealers carried but small stocks At last
accounts the supply of the alkalOid in
New y ork had been exhausted while or
ders have accumulated in hundreds The
demand in Europe likewise has been so
great as to dep.ete the stock of the Ger.
man manu- iiCturgrs The stock Of coca
leaves both in Europe and America are re-
ported to be small and largely of inferior
quality, so that the prospect Of supplying
large amounts Of the alkaloid in the near
future seems not very good. You
know, of course, that the value of
this anUsthetiC, so far as demOnstra-
ted at present is confined to operations
upon the eye. 1t has been proved in the
majority of cases that an application to
the eye of a few drops of , or per cent.
70
pie, transient insensbility to pain. Oper.
ations ordinarily requiring the use of
ChloUofOrm or ether have been performed
upon patients conscious of everything
being done, but saved from pain by a
weak aqueous solution Of this salt.
"Outside Of ophthalmiC practice this
substance has not been universally so sue
Ccssful although it has been used for
month or six weeks by some Chicago
dentists 1t acts only on the mucous
membrane and appears to have no
elect ON the bone Dentists use
il on teeth requiring treatment
and the removal of the nerves. One told
me that he had placed "a cotton saturated
with "a few drops of "a . per cent. solution
on the exposed nerve of q patients tooth
and removed the nerve without her eX-
pcrenCug any seyerer pain than what
would bc oCCusiOned by the prick Of pin
Another claim set up for it is that it will
cure drunkenness and morphine taking,
completely paraVZiug the craving for
either alcohol or opium. An individual
cured OF either propensity by its use is
said to have no rClapse5 and the disuse Of
the coca is easily eradicated. 1t is more
! dtiCult 10 cure alcoholism with it than
! morphine eating, for there is a direct an.
! MgOnsm between cocaine and morphine.
Another drug Tor which the demand
! is greater than the supply at present is
| uutipyrin. 10 has been used with great
| success in New \ orl hospital practice
! 1t possesses the remarkable power of
| lowering the temperature in cases Of
! fever. 1t is an article manufactured and
sent out by German firm The compo-
sitiOn OF it has not been disclosed
"A great many curious substances and
| many expensive ones are used as drugs
D IIaH.
| used in conjunction and in place of opium
and its alkaloids, is worth 500 per ounce
trseni, preparation made from
| the Calabar bean and used in
epilepsy, rheumatism, fevers and for
local applications is valued at 1925
! per ounce The Calabar bean has some
thing the same properties as strychnine.
| and serves as a nerve tonic. Morphine Is
| expensive, ranging in price from "a to IS
! per ounce Of its various salts bimeCOnate
! is the most costly and brings $40 per
! ounce Chloride of gold is worth $15
! per ounce II is used for scrOfula and
! various chronic diseases of the blood
! Musk is worth $40 an ounce. 1t is used
! most largely, of course, as q perfume, but
occasionally to relieve spasms 1t is OBJ.
! tanned from the musk OK. 1t is used for
! burns by the Chinese It is believed the
! Chinese have knowledge of many valu-
| able remedies which would be of great
benefit to science, but they jealOusly guard
! their secrets.
ErgOtin is curious but inexpensive
| drug being worth but "a cents an ounce at
! wholesale IL is used in apOplexy. 1t is
fungus growth found on the rye in
! Normandy. A similar growth on the rye
! in this country contains very little ergo
tin, even less than that found in the smut
on corn. The wild ginseng root was used
a few years ago extensively as a tonic,
many persons smoking it, The demand
is less now Some people in the Wiscon-
| sin woods really made a living Just
searching out the wild ginseng Its roots
are very fine and light and it requires
considerable quantity to make pound.
1t seems to neCessitate the possession of a
PECULIAR instinct to discover where It
| grows-somCthing like that which leads
| wild bee traCkeTs to the haunts where the
bees have stored their honey, The most
successful ginseng gatherer l ever knew
was an old woman nearly 20,
There are many valuable metals used
in pharmacy. Nanadjum, a white metal
discovered in 1880 is worth $40, 600 per
ayoirdupois pound An alkaline metal
called Tubidium is worth 5000 per
pound Lirconium a metal obtained
from zircon and hyacnth in the form of
q black powder is worth ST. 200 per
per pound Terbium, Swedish
metal is worth $AOsO per pound
pound. There are many others of great
value used as medicines. Magnesium,
the metal base of common magnesia' is
valued at $64 per pound,