Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1897-01-02
STRYCHNINE AS A DRINK,
Development of New Habit Which
is Rapidly Spreading.

1s Rapidly Spreading.
From PcarsOns Weekly.
new kind of patient can shortly be
locked for at the gold cure establishment
the victim of the strychnne habit. We have
had the cocaine fiend. the morphine fiend
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-
ces sively stimulating nature. however, is
the strychnine fiend. Strychnine is known
to medical science as deadly poison, but
when under medical direction it acts as
powerful tonic, greatly stimulating the
hearts acton. So powerful is it in it's
operation that only the most fnfintesimal
proportion Is allowed in tonic prescrip-
ten Yet 1t has been seized upon by the
physical wrecks of civilization as a means
of stimulating the Pickering spark 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 religious worker in a large CITY.
whose mission takes him nightly into the
society or women to whom excitement of
some kind is essential to the forgetfulness
OF lfes dark side This missionary recent
~ found early one morning the form of a
well-dressed woman PROSTATE on the nave
ment. She was taken to one of the insti-
tutions in connection with which the mis-
sionary worked, and doctor sent for 1t
was clearly case of jag of some kind
or other. The usual remedies were applied
but the death-like pallor of the patients
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 womans pocket was found a small
bottle containing few pellets. which, up
on investigation proved to contain enough
strychnne to kill an elephant. The woman
was suffering from an overdose of strych-
nine, and the drug had done its work well
IL II was with the greatest difficulty that her
lie was ss$ed 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 pres
ent believed it, she had begun by taking a
very small portion 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 suffi-
cient to kill ten people who were unused to
poison.
A reporter who visited the chemists shops
in the district gathered some additional
particulars regarding the new dope" One
chemist stated that the poison book in
winch entries are made of all deadly drugs
soid showed a steady increase in the
amount Of strychnine consumed cit is
quite evident that the new stimulant is
gaining In favor. said this druggist, land
the recklessness of the .fiends' is sure TO
result in some fatality unless druggists
decline to sell strychnne altogether. Those
the dose they take is regulated by them
selves. 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 likely to kill Themselves
with comparatively small quantity.
Il have on my books the names of wo-
men who are shining ornaments of society
who sent to me for strychnine pellets with
the stereotyped assertion that they are
who send for the poison are without doubt
victims OF the strychnine habit. Then j
shaii snow you the names of men who are
regular customers for strychnine In their
case the poison is taken to counterfeit the
evil eject of tobacco smoking A person
can derive some benefit from taking
strychnine. as the stimulating action Of
the one poison counteracts the sedattve
effects of the other. In these cases ths
poison may be taken with some benefit
under medical direction. but with the ordi-
nary mend who merely takes 1t for the
.pleasurable sensation it produces the
after-effect is bound to be disastrous"