Kansas City daily journal., 1897-01-03
sTRYCHNINE AS A DRINK.
Development of New Habit Which
Is Raridly Spreading.

From Pearson's Weekly.
a new kind of patienr can shortly be
looked for at the gold cure establishment,
the victim of the strychnine habit. We
have had the cocaine fiend. the morphine
tiend, the slave of the hasheesh drug and
the wretched mortals whom only regular
diet of opium could keep alive.
The strangest victim to drugs of an ex-
cessively stimulating nature. however, is
the Strychnine fiend. Strychnne is known
TO medical science as Il deadly poison, but
when under medical direction it acts as a
powerful tonic, greatly stimulating the
hearts action. So powerful is 1t in its
operation that only the most infnitesimal
proportion is allowed in a tonic preSccip-
ton. Yet 1t has been seized upon by the
physical wrecks of civilization as a means
of stimulating the Pickering spark of life.
and a strychnine jag can be added to
the hilarious moments that nerve-smash-
ing drugs afford.
The discovery of the strychnine tiend
was made by a religious worker in large
city, whose mission takes him nightly into
the society of women to whom excitement
of some kind is essential to the forgetful-
ness of lifes dark side. This missionary
recently found early one morning the form
of a well dressed woman PROSTATE on the
pavement She was taken to one of the
institutions in connection with which the
missionary worked, and doctor sent for.
1t was clearly a case OF jag" of some
kind or other. The usual remedies were
applied; but the deathlike palor 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 a
clue to guide him in his efforts to bring
her to consciousness.
In the woman's pocket was found small
bottle containing a few pellets, which,
upon investigation, proved to contain
enough Strychnine to kill an elephant. The
woman was suffering from an overdose of
strychnine, and the drug had done its work
well. 1t was with the greatest difficulty
that her life was saved. and for days fol-
lowing this she cried pitirully for the dead
ly tonic that was withheld from her. From
her own statement, and the doctor Gnd
those present believed it, she had begun
by taking very small portion of strych-
nine, and, the craving for the drug in
creased, had added to her daily dose until
she found she could take with impunity a
quantity sufficient to kin ten people who
were unused to the 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 pois
on book in which entries are made of all
deadly drugs sold showed a steady increase
in the amount of strychnine consumed. ''It
gaining in favor" said the druggist, "and
the recklessness of the 'fends is sure to
result in some fatality unless druggists de-
cline to sell strychnine altogether. Those
addicted to it's buy 1t in pellets, and
the dose they take is regulated by them
selves. The seasoned hands are able to
take an enormous quantity without doing
any more harm than quIckening the beat
ing of their dying hearts and stimulating
their jaded nerves, but those to whom the
drug is a new thing are likely to kill them
selves with comparatively small guam
tity.
II have on my books the names of wom-
en- who shining ornaments of society
who send to me for strychnine pellets with
the stereotyped assertion that they are
wanted to kill a dying cat. The women
who send for the poison are without doubt
victims of the strychnine habit. Then L
shall show you the names of men who are
regular customers for strychnine. In their
case the poison is taken to counteract the
evil effects of tobacco smoking. A person
can derive some benefit from taking
strychnine. as the stimulating action of
the one poison counteracts the sedative eff
fects of the other. In these cases the pois-
on may be taken with some benefit, under
medical direction, but with the ordinary
.fend,' who merely takes it for the pleas
urable sensation it produces, the after eff
feet is bound to be disastrous