The silver messenger. (Challis, Idaho) 1890-1912, 1907-07-02
GETS ILL ON PURPOSE
Boston Man is Dog on Whom
Certain Medicines Are Tried.

cines manufactured by the company
which employs him.
Instead of being a shaky wreck
from constant indulgence in foods
taken purposely to provoke disorders.
this vindicator of infants soothing
syrups, headache cures. indigestion
medicines and cold cures is hale and
hearty, a stout German past middle
age, of studious, phlegmatic temper
ament.
His office is one of the best of all
at the headquarters OF the company
that employs him. There are oil paint
ings, soft carpets and Turkish rugs;
he has library of medical volumes.
fusion of bottles, glasses and crucibles
distributed in the apartment
He has variety of duties. Accord
ing to the Boston Herald he sits in a
draught or wanders coatless to entice
cold, and then doses himself with
cold cures. He contracts a violent
headache in order to try the efficacy
of a headache cure which is to be put
on the market
ne dCQuiItS lut A6dudCuE Ds COu-
centrating his mind so closely upon
one subject that at the end of a few
hours the nervous strain produces the
pains in the head he has set out to
obtain. Then he takes dose of the
medicine that is being experimental
with, and watches results carefully.
noting every effect in a book in or
der to make his report upon it.
Often he has to contract aches that
aren't headaches. 1t may be that a
new medicine is to be brought out
for indigestion or the scores of dis
orders resulting from dyspepsia
The manufacturers desire to make
a practical test of the formula for
their own satisfaction. The German
tester goes to restaurant late in the
evening and gives an order that makes
the walters eyes bulge.
Il eat a lobster salad, then drink
milk. which is usually prohibited with
such salad" he says, cheerily, in
telling about it ITO make it more
certain have vinegar mixed with the
milk, and follow it all with a Welsh
rabbit After that, the only thing ]
have TO do is wait for the results.
They are usually not long in com.
ing. Soon have violent pains in the
chest, a feeling as of heavy weight
lying upon it, with sharp pains shoot
ing across my body every second. On
course it is agony while it endures
but l take a dose of the remedy to re
lieve it.
IF it gives me relief. l note all the
circumstances of my sensations to the
minutest detail. and if il doesn't ]
do the same. You have no conception
of what a delightful feeling it is &c
experience the contrast of intense
pain and quick relief l know thai
feeling well"
There are from as to 100 drugs
mentioned in materia medica for dis
orders of Indigestion. and the German
tester has tried them all
For an eyewash, he has more thar
once thrown sand into his eyes t.
produce Inflammation in order to tes
the wash as to its relief giving prop
critics. He even Iimagines himself {
baby occasionally in order to try tn,
infants medicines. He drugs himself
by compromising a sleeping potion o
infants soothing syrup.
You may say" he explains, tina
because a thing soothes me it doe
not necessarily follow that it would
soothe a baby. Nevertheless, my re
suits have invariably proved tina
what was good for me was good 70
I f,f ht,F 81
doses.
You see, we cannot get a baby 4
experiment on, even if we desired one
which we don't A baby could no
tell its sensations or impressions afte
it took the medicine, which is neces
sary to the success of the exper
ments."
The man who voluntarily submit
to trying it on the dog" is not at al
a dense animal, so robust that moth
ing can harm him, and willing froI
ignorance to sacrifice himself in thi
strange way. He is himself a chen
list. skillful one.
That makes him all the more avail
able. as he can record with accurac
the sensations before and after tai
ing a medicine and the results oil
tanned. And of course he knows quit
well the properties. of each remed
! he takes. what its effect should b,
how great dose is required and ho'
violent his ailment is.
How came such a man to embrac
an occupation that carries with it S
many disagreeable features? He wi
tell you himself that before he &c
; his present berth he was wreck,
. victim of chronic indigestion.
wasted shadow of the man he ha
been in early youth.
i have been in the manufacture
drug business myself for 27 years
| he says But things went wrong; m
| health gave out. my stomach wa
: gone and soon had not even emplo,
ment.