The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1892-04-08
FASHIONABLE POISON.
EVIL EFFECTS FROM TIE CARE
LESS TAKING OF ANTIPYRIN.


LESS TAKING OF ANTIPYRIN.
7. "a Like Playing With Fireworks
Of Warning to Those Who Have
savere Pains to soothe-How the
Nervous System Is Lulled.
From the Pail Mall Budget London).
II is with medicines as with the cut OF
dresses. the form of hats, the shade Of ribs
hons. and the style of ornaments; they are
Influenced by fashion, Of which they un-
dergo, without any one knowing exactly
Why. ali the capricious viciseitudes. This is
the case with antlpyrin for which at the
present time there is positive rage. With
ont warning it has risen to the rank of a
prlme necessity. No longer are the in
structions of the faculty thought necessary,
At the least headache or neuralgia attack,
even in simple cases Of what used to be
called the vapors, the admirers of the drug
enter the nearest chemists aud obtain "a
dose as one would enter an hotel and call
for refreshments.
And yet if, Of 100 persons taken at hazard
from the most fervant one suddenly asked
the nature of the medicine by means of
which the credulous crowd has unexpect-
edIy put itself into communication with the
unknogn-if one inquired whence 1T pro-
ceeds and what 1t rhymes with-at least
ninety would be unable to answer. The
fact is that, with the exception of profess
sional chemists, nobody, or almost nobody,
knows either the nature or the genesis of
antipvrin. Even the initiated find it rather
difficult to explain to the profane, to whom
it must suffice to know that substantially
antipyrin, like aniline, benZine and phenol
is derivative of coal tar, from which SO
many things heterogeneous and contradic-
tory are now extracted.
HAS VIRTUE OF SURPRISING PAIN.
Heaven forbid that the writer of these
notes should oalum Mate antipyrin or desire
to do the least wrong to that inestimable
specific for intense and recalcitrant nerve
disorders. Whatever one may think, do or
say, it is beyond doubt that by some unex-
planned sorcery antipyrin possesses the
precious virtue Of alternating and even
suppressing pain instantaneously.
With opium, or which the handling is so
ticklish, 1t Is incontestably one OF the quick
est and most powerful soothers. We know
also that in the most diverse febrile cases It
is able in the bargain to lower the tenn
perature of the patient with a certainty
aud regularity almost miraculous Moth
log more is needed, especially in an epoch
like the present, highly-strung, over worked
and fertile in exasperated nerves, TO earn
the reputation Of veritable gift from
heaven.
But excess is a fault in everything, and
autipyrin is no exception. 1t is TO be feared
that in their blind admiration of it the in
considerable crowd have got to the point of
abusing the application of the drug. The
time has come to sound the alarm. Let il
not be forgotten that autipyrin, in spite of
Its advantages and services. Is an undoubted
poison-even violent poison.
ACCIDENTS TOO NUMEROUS TO MENTION.
The accidents attributed to it during the
seven or eight years that 1t has been known
as a remedy are too numerous to count:
and it should be noted that the cases that
come to light are usually those in which
there has been the intervention of medical
man with express prescriptions and doses
according to rule and formula. What,
then, must be the consequences of the daily
use, by Ruesswork, without authorization,
which legions OF persons suffering from
nervous pains make Of antipyrin! To sup
press pain--that is to say, the consciousness
of disorder or disease-is not to suppress the
malady.
On the contrary, it may be the creation
OF a dangerous Illusion, lulling distrust and
paralyzing defensive action. An invalid is
so ready TO believed himself cnred and free
from the trouble of taking precautions
when he has ceased TO feel pain. The truth
Is that antipYrin hos vices to match its
good qualities, and that its beneficent
effects themselves are not without peril. 1t
Is by Supplying the nervous system, and, in
particular the vaso-motor nerves-the
springs Of the circulatory system, the nerves
which govern the construction aud dilation
of the blood vessels-that antipyrin exercises
its soothing influence.
1T is LIKE PLAYING WITH FIRE.
There follows necessarily a slowing of the
circulation, more or less Of an approach to
stagnation, of the blood, which becomes
thicker and tends to coagulste. There fol-
lows an abatement in the elimination OF
those ashes Of life which are TO the animal
organism what household refuse is to a
great city. As proof one may point out
that antipyrin diminishes sensibly the urin-
ary secretion, and that it has been employed
to stop hemorrhages. In infectious and
parasitic maladIes like influenza the capital
necessity, while pursuing and killing the
pOisoner, is to eliminate the poison with all
haste, for the action of microbes is double.
Not only do they live at the expense OF
the tissues in which they have lodged, but
they dlstil subtle viruses, which accumulate
IN this caverns made by these infinitely lit-
tie gnawers aud cause frightfal ravages
1t is not by applying anasthetics to the
nervous system, by diminishing the rate of
the excretions, by augmenting the viscous-
ness Of the vital fluids, transformed by the
contact Of antipyrin into pitchy syrups,
that this ongestion-causing drug can give
to the human organism the lash necessary
TO cause the election OF the rascally micro
bian handiwork.
1t is true that antipyrin deadens pains
and lulls exasperated nerves, but morphine
does the same. perhaps more surely and we
know where morphine leads. One should
no more play with morphine than fire. That
Is the moral we with to point cut.
WHEN THE BIG SHAFT BREAKS.