EXPLOSIVE MEDICINES.

Daily Telegraph (Napier), Issue 3739, 10 July 1883, Page 4

EXPLOSIVE MEDICINES.

Tlio New York Times, after citing many mysterious crises of disappearance during late years, contributes the folloAving suggestions as to their explanation :—" Of late years many additions have been made to the materia metljca, and many of those additions have become very popular. There is chlorate of potash, which either alone or in combination with other substances, is cou-

stantly prescribed for sore throat. Thousands of people buy chlorate of potash without a prescription, and carry it in their pockets so that they can put it to their lips when they feel so disposed, heedless of the fact they may be curing a temporary soro throat at the expense of a permanently ruined stomach. There is glycerine, Avhicli is greatly trusted by women, avlio fancy that it is good for every ill to Avhich flesh is heir. There is the hypophosphate of limo, with which countless people endeavor to re-plaster their interiors in the confident expectation that they will thereby prolong their lives. Tincture of iodine, ammonia, and permaganato of potash are also favorite remedies, and Avithin the last three years, certain doctors havo even had the audacity to prescribe nitro-glycerine as a remedy for angina expectoris. It was the use of the latter remedy which caused tho painful tragedy in Toronto in July, 1881. A small boy, av_o similated the symptoms of angina expectoris with a vioav of staying home from church during the trout season, Avas dosed _ with nitro-glycerine by the family physician, but being made uncomfortably sick thereby, confessed his deception to his father. The latter, being a strict disciplinarian, took his son to the woodshed, and in a few moments a violent explosion occurred. The father and son instantly and mysteriously disappeared. The woodshed also disappeared, and the only relic of the three that Avas ever found Avas a small piece of the paternal cane. In this case there was no difficulty of explaining tho tragedy, which the coroner's jury promptly ascribed to nitroglycerine. The affair was widely raerationcd in the press at the time, and deterred all careful physicians from prescribing nitro-glycerine. It has, however, been pretty well forgotten by this time, and the medical profession is again using the dangerous drag with reckless carelessness of possible results. AA r e now see what becomes of the men Avho mysteriously disappear. They arc men avlio have taken some explosive medicine. A slight shock, such as a collision with a small boy, or an umbrella carried under tho arm of sorrm reckless pedestrian, causes the medicine to explode, and the report is so slight, and the disappearance of the A-ictim so instantaneously and complete, that the Avhole affair remains unnoticed. Let the doctors look into this matter, as it is one which closely concerns their prosperity. If they are to have the good Avill 'and assistance of undertakers,' and the confidence of the public generally, they must prescribe no more explosive medicines.