The Tabor independent. [volume] (Tabor, S.D.) 1913-19??, 1918-03-07
VOID ALCOHOL POISONING.

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The following press dispatch came
from M~uskogee, Okla, on January 20:
Seven persons are dead, two others
are expected to die, and nearly a score
are Ill as a result of an eggnog party on
Sunday at Francis. Okla, at which
denatured alcohol was used by mistake,
according to word reaching here today.
Four persons were reported dead yes
terday and three more dice during the
night"
The first case of wood alcoho poison
Ing l ever a was q Montana rancher,
who drank up his supply OF whisky n
then turned to wood alcohol On
Wednesday he had a fine jag. On
Thursday he began vomiting. On Sat
urday he noticed the sky was getting
dark. About noon ne caught a horse
and rode to the ranch of his nearest
neighbor. three miles away. BY night
he was LIND. He came To Chicago to
consult Dr. Casey Wood, but his trip
did him no good. DR.. Wood was COM
PEELED to tell him that his sight was
permanently lost.
In 1904 DR.. Wood reported his cases
Of wood alcohol poisoning and gathered
together reports of 375 cases found in
medical literature.
Drs. Gettler and st. George tell physi-
:ians in the Journal of the American
Medical association that there is GER
tain to be a great increase in the num-
Der of cases OF VOC alcohol poisoning
as q result of the prohibition wave
sweeping over the country. When the
Russian government prohibited the
manufacture, sale and use Of vodka a
lot of Russians tried to get the Gus
tomary kick by substituting wood slco-
hol. Many of them died and many
others became blind. On September 8.
1917 The m, fA o.. - lt,t,vaI zxyn
ages ceased in the United States. Some
people are beginning to find II hard to
get whisky. rum, gin, and brandy. Six
months from now h difficulty will
be greater.
The number Ct dry ate increases
year by year. A lot of chronic "soaks"
will be up against ii. Some of them will
try wood alcohol. What we need is
not articles in medical journals but
articles in all the newspapers, maya
zines, and almanacS telling the people
that the man who drinks wood alcohol
will go blind or die.
The whisky merchant and the saloon
keeper must be taught somehow that
wood alcohol is Il violent poison. III
the whisky contains only a moderate
percentage Of wood alcohol the regular
drinker will notice that his stomach liz
q little bit off. hat his sight is poor;
eventually he will go blind. If the mix
80 ~ 10 "SoA ~ ~
be a nausea. vomiting, abdominal pains.
great weakness and blindness.
The treatment of acute o alcohol
poisoning Is washing out Of the stom-
ech, repeated many times during a day
or more. Salt solution should be en-
jccted into the veins. The patient must
be kept warm. In spite of all that can
be done. If h amount Of wood alcohol
swallowed is large death will ensue.
Some alcoholic products now contain
u good deal of wood alcohol. In spite
of the fact that denatured alcohol in
advertised to be unfit to drink, some
PERSONS will drink it. Denatured alco-
hol contains a high percentage of wood
alcohol. Occasionally some very thirsty
man will try a drink of some product
containing alcohol. For instance, physi-
clans know of men drinking essence Of
peppermint, Jamaica ginger, lemon ex-
tract and cologne. In many of these
sorne wood alcohol is used.