The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1897-01-10
STRYCHNINE as A DRINK.
Development of New Habit Which
Is Rapidly Spreading.
FROM Pearson,s Weekly.

1
new kind of patient can shortly be
looked for at the gold cure establishment,
the victim of the strychnine habit. We
have had the cocaine fiend, the morphine
fend, the slave of the hasheesh drug and
the wretched mortals whom only a regular
diet of opium could keep alive.
The strangest victim to drugs of an ex-
cessively stimulating nature, however. is
the strychnine fiend. Strychnine is known
to medical science as a deadly poison, but
when under medical direction it acts as a
powerful tonic, greatly stimulating the
hearts action. So powerful is it in its OPP
Grafton that only the most infnitesimal
proportion is allowed in a tonic prescrip-
ton. Yet it has been seized upon by the
physical wrecks of civilization as a means
OF stimulating the flckerlng sparks OF life,
and strychnine jag can be added to the
hilarious moments that nerve-smashing
drugs afford.
The discovery of the strychnine fiend was
made by a religious worker in a large city,
whose mission takes him nightly into the
society of women to whom excitement of
some kind is essential TO the forgetfulness
of life'S dark side. This missionary re-
Gently found early one morning the form of
| well-dressed woman PROSTATE on the
pavement. She was taken to one of the
| institutions in connection with which the
missionary worked, and a doctor sent for.
II was clearly case of jag of some
applied; but he death-like pa.lor of the pa
TENTS face and the queer action of the
heart alarmed the doctor, and he ordered
her clothing to be searched to obtain
clew to guide him in his efforts to bring
her to consciousness.
In the womans pocket was found
small bottle containing a few pellets
which, upon investigation, proved to con-
tain enough strychnine to kill an elephant
| The woman was suffering from an over
dose of Strychnine. and the drug had done
its work well. 1t was with the greatest
difficulty that her life was saved, and for
days following this she cried pitifully for
the deadly tonic that was withheld from
her. From her own statement, and the
doctor and those present believed it, she
had begun by taking a very small por-
ton of strychnine, and, as the craving for
the drug increased, had added to her
daily dose until she found she could take
with impunity quantity sufficient to kill
ten people who We're unused to poison.
A reporter who visited the chemists
shops in the district gathered some addi-
tional particulars regarding the new
dope" One chemist stated that the poi-
son book in which entries are made of
all deadly drugs sold showed a steady in
crease in the amount of strychnine con-
stunned. 1T is quite evident that the new
st!mulant is gaining in favor" said the
druggist, land the recklessness of the
'fiends' is sure to result in some fatality
unless druggists decline to sell strychnine
altogether. Those addicted to its use buy
it in pellets, and the dose they take is reg
ulated by themselves. The seasoned hands
are able to take an enormous quantity
without doing any more than quickening
the beating of their dying hearts and
stimulating their jaded nerves but those
to whom the drug is new thing are like
ly to kill themselves with comparatively
small quantity.
II have on my books the names of wo-
men who are shining ornaments of soci-
ETY. who sent to me for strychn.ne pellets
with the stereotyped assertion that they
are wanted to kill a dying cat The wo-
men who send for the poison are without
doubt victims of the strychnine habit
Then ] shall show you the names of men
who are regular customers for strychnine
In their case the poison is taken to coun-
h 3er ev e ca1 dep oil toe o b
from taking strychnine, as the stimulat-
ing action of the one poison counteracts
cases the poison may be taken with some
benefit, under medical direction but with
the ordinary 'hend, who merely takes it
for the pleasurable sensation it produces
the after effect is bound to be disastrous