Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1894-08-30
WORSE THAN orluM.
What New York Doctors Think Of The
Fatal Gentian Habit

There goes a gentian drunkard.
a whaty'
a gentian drunkard."
This morsei OF conversation was
heard by a New York Morning Jour
nal man yesterday in Big Broadway
drug store, where SO worth Of soda
and liquor j. sold daily 70 10 cents
worth OF drGgs II only tooS few
words OF further conversation With
the two speakers. one Of whom hap
pened 10 be the proprietor Of the
store. tie other being certain very
wen known physician.
That man they said. who Just
passed Us. has craze for drinking
the vsscaee Ut -eaJtan Now. : autian
in medicine is the root of the plant
geEfiana ultra. II grows wild in the
mountainous parts of Europe and Is
brought 70 this country. III tine Sw.ss
and 1yrolean nluuAIalMs tire pea Is
DlIeerate tine pia.t IA cod wa.er, aud
the sugar it contains causes il 10 fer
menr on standing.
Then they distill from it Quesr
liquor 1t is bitter and unpleasant TO
the taste, but when you have got a
jag Of il aboard it's a great one, so
people who have used it say. That
man buys the tincture OF gentian
solely. He drinks about pint OF the
stuff in n hours. and how be keeps
up and escapes Inflammation of the
mucous membranes of the stomach,
| don't see"
DR. William c. Bland, of Bellevue
hospital, was asked If he had ever
had any person under his charge who
was a victim to the craze of drink.
ing .entian.
's0h. yes" he said, its d well
known form of INDUCING in sumu-
lants. Tincture of gentian contains a
very large proportion Of alcohol. and
you can wager that il YOU once get
u using the drug you are as bad of
as If you were chained TO opium's
slavery
The speaker said that the effects Of
drinking gentian extract closely re-
sembled those of the other pure bit
tiers, such as quassia and colombo,
I'm small doses at first the drug
aids the appetite and inyigorates d.
gestion," DR. Bland went on 20 say.
But the user can not stick TO small
doses, for as soon as his system be.
comes at all used TO the dangerous
drug he finds he must increase his
doses to get any effect,
BY and by the victim begins TO
have constant irritation in his
stomach, and this develops until in
Illumination sets in, which only death
ends The condition of the poor vic
tim of his habits at this time is de-
plorable He cannot stop taking the
drug because he is so bound up in is
effects. He finds that when once he
is out of the first feeling of intoxi-
cation which the drug gives him he
suffers the most excruciating agony
in his stomach. This goes on ana on
until finally he dies in torment
DR.. Franklin f. Baldwin, of the
New York hospital, tells the story of
woman who was the victim OF the
gentian habit.
"Of course. l cannot tell her name, :"
added the speaker, but she really was
a woman Of a great deal of standing
in this community She was married
and had husband who idolized her.
HE was quite we'll of. having a
large Wall street business. and every
summer used to take his wife abroad
!. tho ,,.t.a toi
Or. Baldwin added that it was while
abroad on these trips that the wife
got to drinking gentian, which the
Swiss people brew to such an advan-
tage.
''1rhe liquor has a swedish taste,
said the doctor, (which Is followed
by intense bitterness But the effect
is, l suppose, 10 times that Of CON-
mon glass of whisky. AT all events,
the woman became addicted to the
drink, and they say that she was
over 1t. She became so bad that they
brought her TO Us.
There was little that we could do,
you know. When a person has got
to be a confirmed gentiam drunkard,
that settles it, All the physicians in
the world cannot cure; nothing can
cure but death. Well, this woman
fingered along about year, and then
died from stomach trouble. as all
gentian drunkards usually do"
DIR. Paul Godfrey, of Roosevelt hos
pital, laughed when asked II lie knew
anything about gentian drunkards.
II should say ! did" said he; also
about calisaya and wine OF cocoa
dflnkards, morphine eaters. choral
drunkards and dozens OF other classes
who use any stimulant rather than
whisky
"Of all the people that. come here
10 be treated none are 50 bad TO cure
as the gentian drunkards That class
of people, l begin to think. can not
be cured. And there are hundreds Of
them in the city. People whom you
would never suspect are addicted to
the drug, and when once II fastens its
grip on the victim he can't break
away until death aids In the release"
The speaker said that in bis opin-
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