The daily morning journal and courier., 1902-01-13
FAIRLY EAT QUININE.
Foreigners in Mexico Who Keep Full Of
 the Drug All the Time.

Foreigners in Mexico Who Keep Full Of
 the Drug All the Time.
 '"The quantity of quinine taken by foreigners on the southeast coast Of Mexico is something simply incredible said a resident of this city who is in- terested in coffee culture in the sister republic. There is general belief among the Americans and English all through that region that the drug is nee essary for the preservation of life, a11d they keep full of it from one years end to another. The first time I visited the coast 1 stopped at Frontera, the first port east of Vera Cruz, and as soon as our ship tied up it was boarded by tall, sallow man, who turned out to be an American engineer, in charge of a big sugar plant up the country He made a. bee line for the purser. Hello, Billy he said; did you bring that quinine?' Sure, replied the purser, and diving into his cabin he came out with an armful of tin boxes about the size of tea canisters and japanned green. Each of them held pound of auinne never saw it put up that way before, and naturally l was sur- prised.
 II soon scraped an acquaintance with the engineer and made bold to inquire what in the world he wanted with such a supply Are you getting it on a speculation? I asked, with a vague idea that it might be intended for some Mexican army contractor. He laughed heartily. Speculation nothing,' said he This all goes to our little colony of Americans back in the interior, and it won't last very long, either With that he drew a penknife from his pocket, opened a blade that had been ground off round. like a spatula, and thrust 1t into one of the cans. He brought out a flaky, white mass-enough to heap g teaspoon-put it on his tongue and swallowed it like so much sugar. Have you any idea how many grains you are taking2' l asked in amazement. Only approximately, he replied carelessly. "A man quits weighing quinine after he has been down here a few months
 "That was my first encounter with a bona fde quinne eater" the coffee planter went on "but l met plenty of them afterward. They generally keep the stuff in rubber tobacco pouches to protect it from precipitation and when they feel like taking a dose they dig in with one Of those spatulated knives that they all carry and swallow as much as they see fit. As they go en- | tirely by guess, it is hard to say how much will be taken in the course of a day, but I have weighed the amount that can be lifted on the ordinary knife blade and found it to range be- tween 25 and 50 grains. You see, quinine is as compressible as cotton, and two
 wads of it that look about the same | size will vary hundred per cent. in | weight.
 l "One would suppose, as a matter of course, that such enormous quantities of the drug would produce an intolera- ble ringing in the head; but, strange to say they do nothing of the kind. The average white man down there who | keeps under the influence all the time experiences nothing except a slight feel ing of exhilaration-at least so l was 1 assured by dozens of hahitues Wheth~
 CT the use of the stuff is of any real benefit is something l am skeptical about. l never took grain of it myself and I was the only man on our plan- 1 tation who didn't have a touch of fev- er.''-NeW Orleans Times-Democrat.