THE EFFECTS PRODUCED BY DRUGS.

Rangitikei Advocate and Manawatu Argus, Volume XXII, Issue 8964, 5 November 1907, Page 3

THE EFFECTS PRODUCED BY DRUGS.

SOME POPULAR FALLACIES. (By Thomas F. Roilly, M.S., M.D., Professor of applied Therapeutics.) Some fallacies as -to the action of drugs are continually met with. There is probably ho drug that has a wider popular use among the laity than Quinine. All ailments and fevers are treated by it, and almost everyone who contracts a cold takes as much as ho or she can stand; yet, with the exception of true malarial fever, a by no means common disease in northern lattltudes. it has very little value. It is true that in small doses it acts as a mild tonic for the nervous system, and that large doses do reduce fever for a short time, bnt it has not- any specific effect on any disease other than true malarial fever. Largo doses in some individuals produce ringing in the ears, dizziness, rashes of various kinds, delirium, and vomiting. These effects, like those of all drugs, are only transitory and soon pass off, hut are often very disagreeable while they last. TEA AND COFFEE AS DRUGS.', Few people are apt to think of tea or coffee as a drug, yet a cup of tea or a cup of coffee contains three

grains of caffeine, a drug acting markedly on the heart, kidneys and nervous system. The central nervous system, particularly the part associated with tlio psychical functions, is strongly stimulated, the ideas become clearer, fatigue and drowsiness disappear and thoughts often flow clearer. The capacity for physical exertion is generally augmented, and tliis has been thoroughly demonstrated in the late liussO:Japanese war. Kraeplin, wiio has investigated the subject from a psychological point, finds that tea and coffee facilitate the reception of sensory impressions and also the association of ideas, especially in fatigue, but the transformation of conceptions into actual movements is retarded The effect on the acuteness of the senses has been demonstrated by the greater accuracy of touch under its influence. It increases the force and the number of the heart beats and increases the flow of urine. Some are particularly susceptible to the effects of caffeine. Barge doses will produce effects in most people ; those consist bf wakefulness, palpitation and irregularity of the heart, muscular twitchihg, and ' other evidences of a disturbed nervous system. Digestive disorders are common in habitual users of these agents. Some of these digestive troubles are agravatod by the other bodies present, such as tannic acid, volatile oils, etc. Cream and milk generally taken with coffbe and tea axe responsible for a large part of these digestive disturbances. The reason wo do not notice these effects ordinarily ie that our system has become accustomed to the drug and no appreciable effect is produced jjy ordinary doses. Tiio results of excessive use of this agent are only transitory and pass off on its discontinuance. COCOA AND CAFFEINE.

Cocoa, tlie active principle of winch chemically io closely related to tya or coffee, possesses few of these stimulating effects on the nervous system, although it affects the heart and kidneys much the same as tea or coffee. The digestive tract i? IpsF? often affected by it than "by either tea o r coffee. Caffeine, like alcohol seems to he distributed tire world over. In South America Quantities are consumed in the form of mate of Paraguay tea. la South Arnca the kola nut supplies the Qafives with this agent; while a species of ilex found in Virginia and Carolina furnishes the Appalaclie tea or youpon, formerly much employed by the negroes of the South for its stimulating effects. Pocaipo bears jio rolaltjouship to cocoa, as it is derived from' ah entirely different paint.' It, like caffeine, 'stimulates the brain arid the' ideas flow clearer, the patient becomes talkative, there is 'consider; jiole' mohtal exhilaration; find ciie power to perforin muscular exertion is Very much increased. The natives of Peru and Bolivia have used iu fho forip of cocoa loaves for centuries tg increase their powers Of Ch ■ fltiranco and resistance to fatigue. J{ likewise stimulates the heart and urinary flow. All of those effects (ire hut transitory, and within an Jibur hi- ft corresponding depres; jiioxi se’ts in; so much so' that it is Often 'necessary for the subject to go to bed, and lie is far more gloomy thau before. Of course, it is never administered for these -stimulating effects, biit is 'used almost 'entirely hecause of its power to temporarily paralyse the sensitive nerves, par-

ficularly those convoying impresjjjjje of pain and tench. Tills ha c revolutionised surgery and made it possible to perform all miuof and inauy major operations painlessly, ft ss p. Tslopjp in the iinrrp. p?p; yentiug tiny Impressions going to tho brain, mnch as a piece of glass or rubber would block a telegraph wiry.

On accountjjof the wld proaa use in dentistry, affections of t-ho eye, hay fever, and the like, di ring the past few years a great number of people have contracted tho cocaine habit. Tills habit Is far worse than tlm

moipuiuu naint, and is more easily acquired. It more quickly undermines tho victim’s' health and strength. Ho loses appetite and suffers other ’ digestive disturbances, followed by emaciation or gradual wasting. Sleeplessness and tremors aru' generally present, and in many oases the insane asylum is tho tremijms. Cocaine should never be used without direct supervision of a phyiscian, as occasionally, even in sniall doses, it is a very dangerous drug, and its habit-forming effects are more, insdions than any other drug. OPIUM AI'TD MORPHINE. Opium, or its chief constituent, morphine, is without doubt the greatest and most useful single drug tliat wo possess. When given" in small doses it produces a dreamy, restful feeling, quiets tho heart, relieves all pain, if there bo any, and finally induces sleep. Its action is on tbe brain itself, and all of tbe messages sent out from that central office are affected by it. If the dose ho very great, which seldom happens, the pupils of tho eyes arc contracted almost to a pinpoint, the number of respirations slowly but surely diminish to one or two per minute, and finally death supervenes. In most people on the day following the administration of a moderate doso there is some nausea and vomiting, together with constipation, and frequently it ching of tho skin is complained ox. As has been stated, in a few people delirium occurs instead of sleep, and tho drug cannot be tolerated. . . . Tho continuous use of soothing syrups, paregoric, etc., in early childhood seems to prepare a fit soil for tho opium habit in latro life if tho occasion presents itself. NEWER REMEDIES.

Many of tho newer remedies relievo pain and iudduce sleep with few evil effects. About two decades ago it was accidentally discovered that some of the derivatives of coal tar possesses pain relieving properties. Tho first one of these had scarcely been placed on the market in the form of autipyrin before the Western world was in the throes of the first grip epidemic. This agent, crude as it was, afforded almost complete relief from tho pains of that most distressing malady. Every one knows how long that disease has lasted, and in its train hundreds of thousands of morphine habitues would certainly have followed but for the discovery of these agents or the coal tar series. After tbe chemists discovered that tho aniline ring /coal tar) of organic chemistry was tho basis of an endless chain of therapeutic agents, they sot to work subtsi luting different organic bodies in the ring, continually improving on the previous one, so that hardly a week passes but that one or more new candidates derived from tho coal tar series are offered for trial to tho profession. Sleep-pro-ducing drugs are, like these pain-re-lieving agents, also derived from the coal tar products, so that whereas for the relief of pain and production of sleep formerly tho only drug of value was morph iuo, now we can generally substitute those - safer agents.