New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1892-06-05
ELIXIR EXTRAORDINARY.
/, REIGN OF TERROR CAUSED BY THE IIYPO-
DERMIC NEEDLE.
St. Petersburg, May %.


its best laugh for many day. 1t is characteristic
OF Russia that even it's com d es mu b. founded on
grimness and suffering The present outburst OF
mirth was an immediate sequence OF the death OF
distinguished officer and sustaircd by the fact
that thousands OF people, from princes 10 mou-
iiks. were literally in what Englistmen call reg
ular blue funk 1t is suOh reign Of terror as not
even Nihilists have been able to provoke. And all
the rest Of the people look on with uproarous
mirth 1t is pity some does not immortalize
the situation in a comic opera.
At the bottom of it all is patent medicine nuack
and his nostrums. All Europe has been overrun
with such things for yeaB; worse. perhaps than
America. Some are good, some are bad. and some
the great majority, are quite indifferent. Ut.
Brown-Sequard did much to inspire TIE craze for
panaceas and eiixirs. Soon sfter he announced his
discovery, scores of charlataus all the CONT
nent were selling and administering various COM
pounds warranted to cure all ills and restore the
vitality of youth. Professor Kochs alleged con-
sumption cure gave the impulse for another grand
charge of the Quack brigade; and another was in
spircd by the news that some one in America was
injecting drugs into the blood T. cure delirum
tremens Among the ignorant and credulous Rus
slams such claptrap meets with great success. and
in almost every village there is now some socalled
doctor who, with lozenges or hypodcrmic inlcctIonr.
is ready to anything from. toothacbr to oil age
The latest genius of this stamp is civil en-
gincer named Gatchkowsky Some time ago he
went to Turkestan. to work on the Transcasplan
railroad. On his return he had wonderful tale
TO tell He had, in the course of his travels, near
the border Of Thibet entered hitherto unknown
country where fragments of forgotten people
dwclt' They were people who never fell Ill,
and never grew old Struck with amazement,
he asked the secret of their perpetual health AT
first they would not tell him. But on learning
that be was an officer of the Great White Gar
they recognized him to be the man Of destiny,
through whom the secret Of unfaing life was to
he given to the world. Accordingly, lively young
man Of four or five hundred summers took Mr..
Gatchkowsky aside and told him all about il. They
kept themselves forever young by the use OF
mysterious elixir, which they injected into their
veins The mandarn-tor these were Chinese
pcople-imparted to the Russian the formula for
making this elixir, and sent him back 10 Europe
to conquer disease and death.
When Gatchkowsky returned with this marvel
ous tale all Russia believed it and came rushing to
him for health and youth. He called his Clint
" vitalinc," and charged an enormous price f'r IT,
o manufacture it was tedious and labori0us task
Its ingredients were extraordinarily costly and diff
icult to obtain. But what price would one not
pay for the elixir Of youth? 50 thousands OF
people came 10 him, 70 have their arms puncturcd
with his magic needle and immortal youth sent
coursing through their veins. To describe IT As
O mania is not too much.
Gatchkowskys office was literally bcsiegcd day
and night. In the tlrong were Grand Dukes and
Ministers of State, generals of the army million
aires bankers, diplomats, cab-drivcrs cooks, peas
ants and begcars The most learned and most as
tute came with faith implicit as tina, Of the
lowlicst mouiik. Ladies Of rank and fashion came.
crying, like the in Pilgrims Prorrr. S, Life
life. Even the Emperor himself bccanc be-
lever in IL and sent for his son, the Grand Duke
George who was in Caucasus, to conc AMI he
treated for the ailments that afllict him. Iciorc
the Grand Duke received treatment however,
startling event occurred which in twinkling
changed the whole aspect Of the case. That event
was the death of General Gresser.
This officer was project of st. Petersburg, and
was one of the best known men in the city. lie
was suffering from acute disease, but general
nervous debility and decline Of vital forces. SO
he went 10 Gatchkowsky for treatment, in COM
pany with General Baranof, who also wanted
dose of vitalnc.7 The ilustrious patients re-
ceived hyPodcrmic injections and went away Eappy.
Their example flannel the fame Of the popular
their patients and everybody wished for doses Of
the wonderful "vitaline
Imagine, then, the CONSERVATION when it was
announced that General dresser was dead and
General BaranoI dying. Instantly the retreat be-
came as wild as the advance had been. There
was a perfect stampede away from Gatchkowsky's.
But that was not all. Every who had received
the "vitalne" crazc1 with fright, lest he too
should share General Gresser's fate Hundreds Of
them sent for doctors and surgeons and begged 10
have the arm in which they had received the in
jcctions cut of And it was with difficulty that
they were persuaded not TO take such an extreme
step. Thousands were thus frightened out of their
wits and not few became actually very Ill
through sheer alarm.
All this served greatly 10 amuse those who had
not used "vitaline." But the best was yet to
come The police soon arrested Gatchkowsky on
charge of having caused General Gressers death
by the administering of dangerous medcamcnt.
Whcreupon, to save himself, the quack made full
confession. His story about the ncver-dying
people in Asia was sheer invention. The formula
Of vtaline" had not been revealed by mandarin.
lie had invented il himself And instead OF
being an elaborate and costly affair, it consisted
of nothing in the world but borax and glycerine
Chemical analysis proved the truth of this.
Then there was universal gunaw, partly
at the expense of those who had been scared
out Of their wits. and partly at the expense of
those who had solenmly declared that vitaine"
had cured them of all sorts of ills. The victims
Of the fright are not over it yet and the laughter
still continues. As to the death Of General
Grcsser, it was probably caused by blood poison
ing from some accidental uncleanliness of the
hypodermic syringe. A suspicion Of intentional
has arisa Gate l<oy ak
is under arrest pending rigid examination. What
effect the incident will have on the popular readi-
ness 10 accept Quack nOstrums Is difficult To
determine. But the next successful mounte bank
will do best to invent some story far different
from that of the romance of TurkeStan.
EXPERIMENTS WITH SNAKE POISON.
Eror L