The Democrat. (Scotland Neck, Halifax Co., N.C.) 1884-1896, 1890-03-20
ANTIPYRINE.
PITISBURG PHYSICIANS
DESCRIBE ITS RANAGES.
BY request.
From the Pittsburg POST

| From the flttsburg Post.)
The raVages of the new drug. an
tipyrine, have become alarming.
Physicians generally are not only
! much alarmed at its abuse, but dis
courage its use. AS painbanisher
the drug has wonderful effects, and
in reducing feverIL works like magic,
out for all that it Is a deadly poison
Its competition is comparatively IN
known, aud as yet there has been no
antidote for it discovered. It works
directly on the circulation and re-
dnces the action OF the heart, so that
when that organ is IN the least affect
ed this drug is almost sure to caQse
heart f4ilure. Dangerous as it is
when administered by competent
physician, it IS q thousand times
more dangerous in that it ia handed
over now to the general public with
out restraint. People have begun to
use it for almost every complaint,
and many Of the deaths now attrlbut-
ed to heart failure are really caused
oy the use Of antipyrine.
Recently there has been large
increase in the num0er Of deaths
from heart failure. Within the pat
seven weeks thirty-Four deaths at
tributed to that cause have been re-
corded at the Office of the Bureau
of Health. In the minds Of many
reputable physicians there fingers
but little doubt that 'antipYrine"
should take the place of "heart dis
ease" on certificates as to the cause
Of deaih.
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRUG.
1t is also believed that the value
of thi5 drug has hcen greatly over
estimated, Its great popularity came
with la grippe, and the discover Of it,
knOrr, admits to having made $500.
900 out of it during the past three
months. Medical journals and ply
siCian5 have doomed this German
drug and though all the facts are
not known, it is intimated that each
got slice of its magnificent. earn
ings. It is manufactured from coal
tar, at bat small cost, yet it Is
given out to the trade at $I.40 an
ounce It's sale in America is con-
trolled exclusively by William A.
Shetiiin & Co., New York. They re-
port an immense demand for 1t every
where and can hardly fill orders.
The great danger which now
threatens is that it has gotten beyond
the physicians. In different forms
it IS being scattered broadcast in
patent medicines. There are nov
half dozen quick remedies for tooth
ache, headache and rheumatism,
which have antipyrine or acetanlid,
which, is almost the same, for their
fundamental principle.
PHYSICIANS DENOUNCE IT.
Among the physrcians visited, DR..
Joseph Dickson held the most pron>
ounCed opinions against its use. He
SAID The drug in itself is a deadly
poison. 1t is comparatively new and
is not found in the materia medica.
1t was originally derived from saly>
cine but is now manufactured in
| Germany from coal tar and forms q
part Of what is known as the coal
tar series Of drugs. Although it's
production costs bat little, it is
patented under the proprietary name
Of antipyrine and sells for $1.40 an
ounce. A New York firm has ex-
elusive control OF it's sale ana their
agent in Pittsburgh has stated that
he sold the drug here in quantities
as large as 800 ounces. It's virtues
have been paraded in the medical
journals and prominent physicians
nave given it their Endorsement. To
mr mind there is little doubt but
that both the so-called authorities
and the medical journals have been