The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1890-01-04
A TERRIBLE POISON.
Some Alarming Results of the Use
Of Cocaine.

Cocaine, as is now well known, is a
valuable but exceedingly dangerous
drug, and NJ. Dufournier has lately
published in the ArchiUeS de MedecinS
the remarkable result of his investi-
cations into it's use. Cases where ac-
cidents have occurred are very lime
Gus, and there is hardly a surgeon us
ing cocaine who has not had occasion
to witness them. AS early as in 1887
DIR. Mattison published the ac-
count of forty such instances,
and the roll of victims who
have lost their life from a dose of
cocaine has now reached as high as.
nine. In a large number of cases it
has given rise to a species of poisoning
from which the patient usually re-
covers. Among the phenomena char
acterizing this form of poisoning one
observed in a patient of DIR. &. Brady
is worthy of special mention. This
patient was taken with facial paraly-
sis, from which he did not recover for
six months. Other symptoms are hall
l~ucinations, great excitement and
cerebral agitation; and, finally, DIR.
Leslie Calloghan in one case saw the
entire body covered by a %scarfatini-
form rash.
DR.. Szunman, wishing to reniove a
large wart situated at the base OF the
thumb of a young girl of twenty, in
jected under the skin. close to the
wart, one cubic centimeter of a one-in-
ten solution of cocaine. The patient
felt no pain, but as the little wound
VOC hnir,s coxyn1 fA~of1ar. CHI c,,1
denly lost her color and tainted. Her
pulse became weak and slow, and her
hands and feet stiffened. Water was
dashed in her face and she recovered
consciousness, but she did not re-
gain at once her sense OF feeling, as
she kept asking where her hands
were. BY this time the ~stiffening had
extended to the whole of her person;
but these alarming symptoms Quoted
down little by little, and in half an
hours time they all came to a happy
end. This case represents the mildest
form OF cocaine poisoning. Between
this form and the cases in which death
ensued come to a series of severer
forms, in which the alarming symp-
toms lasted from three hours to five or
six days.
DIR. Baratoux mentions the case of a
druggist who, under the impression
that he vas attacked by diphtheria,
sprayed his throat with a solution of
cocaine; for seven Oh eight hours he
passed from one syncope to another,
until he finally succumbed. DIR. Aba
die reports another case-a woman of
seventy-One. She received a hypoy
dermic injection of four centigrains of
cocaine in her lower eyelid before un-
dergoing q trivial operation in that
region. At the close Of the operation
she tainted, and her face became pur-
pile as in asphyxia. In spite of the
fact that artificial respiration was
performed, and that hypodermic in
jections of ether and caffeine were
made, and though the latter seemed
tor a moment to revive her, this I'M
ortunate woman died five hours after
ward.
If we endeavor to ascertain to
what cause to ascribe these different
symptoms and these cases of death.
we note that the most frequent is the
use of too large a dose of cocaine.
The highest dose that can be used
without risk is, according to some.
three ce~ntigrans; according to Others.
twenty centigrams. Between these
two quantities that are so wide apart,
there is q moderate dose which we
can set as being from five to seven
eentigrams; with this dose it may
possibly happen that in some cases
total an8sthesia will not be reached,
but in the larger number of cases no
alarming symptoms will be observed.
Still, it is prudent to refuse to give
cocaine to aged persons, to highly
nervous persons, or to such as are run
down from any cause.-St. James
Gazette.
Louisa Aicott's Bonnet.
The following is from Louisa May
Alcott's life, Letters and Journals"
MY bonnet has nearly been the death
of me; for, thinking some angel might
make it possible for me to go to the
mountains, 1 felt a wish for a tidy hat,
after wearing an old one till it fell in
tatters from my brow. Mrs p. prom
ised a bit of gray silk, and / built on
that; but when | went for it she let
me down with a crash, saying she
wanted the silk herself, and kindly
offered me q tlanuel petticot instead.
| was in woe for a spell-having ST. in
the world, and scorning debt, even
for that prop OF life, a bonnet, Then
l aroused myself, flew to Dodge. de-
manded her cheapest bonnet, found
one for 81, took it and went home,
wondering if the sky would
open and drop me a trim
ming. / am simple in my tastes. but
a naked straw bonnet is a little too Sc
verely chaste even for me. Sky did
not open; so | went to Widow Cruse's
oil bottle'-my ribbon box-which by
the way, is the eighth wonder of the
world; nothing is ever put in, yet !
always find some old dud when all
other hopes fail. From this salvation
bin | extracted the remains Of the old
white ribbon and the bits of black
lace that have adorned a long line of
| departed hats. OF the lace I made a
dish on which I thriftily served up
! bows Of ribbon like meat on toast; in
side put the lace bow which adorn&
ny foriu anywhere when needed