The St. Johns herald., 1900-06-16
THE CALISAYA TOPER
4 Habit That Is Getting . Strong
 Hold in Chicago
tse and Effect of the PowerfuI Drue When Taken as Q Stlmuiant- Made from Peruvian or
 Cihehona Bark.

Calisaya has finally found its way
 into the drink of the Chicago high liver. The use of the drug in New York city as means of stimulating the stomach of dissipated men and women has al ready attracted attention from physi. clans. Authorities of insane asylums have also begun to note the presence of the 'calisaya victim" although il Is probable he has been more or less in existence for a great many years past. It is not so very long ago, says wTi:er in the Chicago Times-Eerald, that it was uncommon in the west to have drinking man order calisaya in connection with his liquor. In fact. he was ashamed to do so if he understood its use, md generally took it in the privacy of his rooms or through the prescription of lenient physician. Now it is quite fad to mix the liquor and calisaya in the delusion that the body is being permanently assisted and the nerves protected from the evil ef- feet of too much sfimclant. I saw the other day the brain of man who had died from a combination of too much whisky and calisaya. 4 local physician has also called my attention to two cases of men under his treatment for the purpose of being freed from the use of the powerful drug.
 Calisaya. or yellow cinchona bark, reaches fin it's permanent effect on the system the heart and the brain at about the same time-not quite so quickl, as small doses of arsenic would or med teal doses of strychnia, but quick enough to produce at an early pericd some form of idiocy in the mind of tho user. The thought centers of tht brain are quite rapidly eaten out. < tissue is destroyed which under or dnary circumstances ought 10 last un- til a man has passed his sixtieth year Yhe liuibs begin to trtnble as the use of the drug increases. There may be more or less uncertainty in speech. Thought, which at first has been quick grows dull, and the liquor which Is taken with it does not serve to quicken it. I am told that a cloud seems to pass over the brain. and things are seen by the mental eye as through a mist Of course the thinker who needs his "brace'' every 24 hours ascribes tho first symptoms Of disintegration to the liquor and bad stomach and takes more calisaya. Hut this simply serves to hasten his end with form of idiocy said f0 be not quite so painful as that from liquor alone. Men who eat heav- fly. drink much and take but little ex- ercise are noted as the ones who now publicly absorb calisaya ana point to it as n delightful innovation intro duced by their better educated broth CTS of the cast. In time their doses Of calisaya fail to produce the desired beneficial results. If medical assistance is then desired the victim has in most instances gone so far toward making n little something lower than beast of himself that it is only necessary to write out his death certificate and ascribe the cause to some other reason than yellow cinchona bark.
 Cinchona. or chinchona, is so called after the countess of Chinchon. Chin chon is a community in Spain near Madrid. The countess was the tfcc queen of Peru, who, in 1858, was cured of 5etcr by the use of cinchona bark, and who assisted in making the rem edy known, without regard to all the coaSsc;. uCnccs. The bark from whici the d ug is made comes from a genus of everr cen trees, natives of the Andres from Colombia to Bolivia, growing chie@y on the eastern slopes at an aver age altitude of from 5000 to 5000 feet. Here are found the sources of Peruvian or cinchona bark and quinine. There are about 40 species, but the cinchon; bas of commerce is produced by abour s dozen. The baris commonly found at any pharmacy are chiefly of three kinds-the ordinary Peruvian bark. calisaya and red cinchona. Ordinr~v cinchona bark is valuable as reme-N in levers and as general tonic, but the allSaloids obtainable from the barl have in practice largely taken the plac, of the bark itself. If the calisaya tope, could confne himself to medicinal doses he probably would never suffer any i'll effects. but be absorbs the drug ihApsact ically the same quantities as he does his whisky or brandy.
 l asked Dr. Frank N. Doud, student of cafSsayic victims, what particular i'll effect local users of the drug would feel. aside from those I nave mentioned. He said that they would be particularly liable to attacks of la grippe, and that thisSroisoR in.their system would drive the Ia grippe to the head, with tenn porary or permanent insanity fellow ing. A person addicted to the use O. calisaya is much more apt to take Ia g' iFpc isf its severe or fatal form. Dr Dcud noted also that hard drinkers who suddenly ceased the use of liquor eventually take caisaya as . substi- tute and find that they have iumpe,s from the frying pan into the fire. He deplores the use of calisava in social drinking. pecause of its damning ef- feet upon the nerve centers. As the habit is rapidly growing in Chicago drinking circles we shall soon have for treatment the calisavic heart. the cali savic stomach and the calisavic brain, with fit termination in caliSayic in- sane asylum or cemetery.