The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1885-03-13
QUEER AND COSTLY DRUGS.

S@Sb AND COSIIy OhO6Ss
Whise Powder Worth $500 an Ounce
ss.S Ratttesnaie Virus ~ m Opiate.
A doctor from one of the Western
cities, who has wide practice as an
oculist and surist, entered a drug store
the other day and purchased small
bottle of cocaine, the new anasthetic
used with such success IN eye oper-
ations. Hs said he had prescribed it
for diseased ear. The tiny bottle half
full of whit:sh powder cost him five
dollars.
provincial physicians in this coun-
try are very enterprising," said the
druggist, when the doctor had gone out:
'<Tney have already begun the use of
cocaine in all sections of the country,
and it is TO many druggists profitable
drug, because they can charge fancy
price FOR it. Iquote it at over three
dollars an ounce"
"A well-stocked drug store must be
suppked with a great variety OF medi-
cines now if its proprietor fills prescrip-
tons for all Schools" continued the
druggist. "Gne day we had call
from homeopathic physician for
rsVtlesnake virus. The doctor had been
called in to see patient who was soon
20 die of cssacer and who had taken
ordinary opiates until they seemed to
have but little effect We did not have
the medicine, but the aext tirxe l saw
the doctor he said that he had obtained
it, and that twenty minutes after taking
a very low dilution of the virss the suf-
ferer sank into q sweet sleep. The
olden days, when aal sorts of insects
and animals were used in medicine,
were fruitful of soTnc beneficial discov-
cries. The poison of a bee, when ap-
piled externally be bee, is not Far
tiqul8rly beneficial; but know a doctor
who claims wonders for it in cases of
scarlet fever
The beaver furnishes resnedy
known as castor, usedits quiet spasms,
and the musk OK provides musk. 1t
cones in the form of coarse black
powder, and the best of it is quoted at
about forty deglars an ounce. We sell
considerable quantities of it to the
Chinese, who are said to use it for burns.
IL is believed that the Chinese have
u knowledge of many valuable rem
sedies which would benefit science, but,
although we have been able to purchase
=some of their fredericksburg drugs
as curiosities, they have refused to i'm
part the secret, of their properties. Some
idea of their notions with respect to
medicine can be gained when it is
known that they regard the wild GIN
seng root as sacred to the healing OF
royalty, and ass spiritual body, capable
of volition and of concealing itself to
escape cSuture. 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 cf heroic men go in search of the
root, whose presence is finally revealed
ut night by a halo over the spot of con-
cealment, which is marked, the root be-
ing dag on the following day. The
cultivated ginseng, or jen shen, is not
believed by the natives TO be endowed
with the properties of the wild, but is
used freely by the subjects. 1t is be-
1ieved that its chief value lies in its
wonderful recuperative power, prolong-
ing life when a patient has begun to
sink into his last sleep, and in giving
In mentioning animal products as
drugs should perhaps have spoken of
ambergris, deposit of grayish matter,
which is found occasionally in the head
of a sperm whale. 1t sells often for
thirty dollars an ounce at retail. 1t is
said shat one whaler found a deposit of
seven hundred and fifty pounds in q
single whale.
among the expensive drugs is err
gotin, which retails at the rate of about
twenty dollars an ounce. 1t is fun
gous growth on rye in Normandy. A
similar growth on rye in America con-
taips'very little ergotin. less, indeed,
than the smut on Indian corn. As
there are several growths which yield
ergetin in greater or less degree, so
There are several South American plants
that produce jaborandi, the drug now
usee sometimes to produce sweating.
''In the list of expensive drugs the
product of the Calabar bean may be
mentioned. Physostigmine, which is
rated by many as the best remedy in
in spasmodic affections, retails at over
$3.50 an ounce. Apomorphine, while
not to be compared to the drugs that i
have mentioned, is expensive. 1t was
discovered by man named Wright.
whe subjected morphine to treatment
that entirely changed its chemical quail
titles, so that instead of being an opiate
it is.oae 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 al extensive variety of medicines,
the cheapest as well as the most ex-
pensive. Pumpkin seeds are frequently
sold as remedy for tape worm and
with the mole fern as vermifuge A
doctor came in here the other day and
called for some everlasting life. Singu-
lar thing for a doctor to prescribe,
wasn't it? In medicine it is queer
North American plant. Jobs tears is
another queer remedE.-M 7. Sun.