_Acting Commissioner._
Note, in the fifth paragraph, these sentences: "The sale of Peruna which
is on the list of several traders, _is hereby absolutely prohibited._
As a medicine something else can be substituted; as an Intoxicant it has
been found too tempting."
Alcohol In "Medicines" And In Liquors.
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These diagrams show what would be left in a bottle of patent medicine
If everything was poured out except the alcohol; they also show the
quantity of alcohol that would be present if the same bottle had
contained whisky, champagne, claret or beer. It is apparent that a
bottle of Peruna contains as much alcohol as five bottles of beer, or
three bottles of claret or champagne--that is, bottles of the same size.
It would take nearly nine bottles of beer to put as much alcohol into
a thirsty man's system as a temperance advocate can get by drinking one
bottle of Hostetter's Stomach Bitters. While the "doses" prescribed
by the patent medicine manufacturers are only one to two teaspoonfuls
several times a day, the opportunity to take more exists, and even small
doses of alcohol, taken regularly, cause that craving which is the first
step in the making of a drunkard or drag fiend.
Specific evidence of what Peruna can do will be found in the following
report, verified by special investigation:
Pinedale, Wyo., Oct. 4.-- (Special.)--"Two men suffering from delirium
tremens and one dead is the result of a Peruna intoxication which took
place here a few days ago. C. E. Armstrong, of this place, and a
party of three others started out on a camping trip to the Yellowstone
country, taking with them several bottles of whisky and ten bottles of
Peruna, which one of the members of the party was taking as a tonic. The
trip lasted over a week. The whisky was exhausted and for two days
the party was without liquor. At last some one suggested that they use
Peruna, of which nine bottles remained. Before they stopped the whole
remaining supply had been consumed and the four men were in a state of
intoxication, the like of which they had never known before. Finally,
one awoke with terrible cramps in his stomach and found his companions
seemingly in an almost lifeless condition. Suffering terrible agony,
he crawled on his hands and knees to a ranch over a mile distant, the
process taking him half a day. Aid was sent to his three companions.
Armstrong was dead when the rescue party arrived. The other two men,
still unconscious, were brought to town in a wagon and are still in a
weak and emaciated condition. Armstrong's body was almost tied in a knot
and could not be straightened for burial."
Here is testimony from a druggist in a Southern "no license" town:
"Peruna is bought by all the druggists in this section by the gross. I
have seen persons thoroughly intoxicated from taking Peruna. The common
remark in this place when a drunken party is particularly obstreperous
is that he is on a 'Peruna drunk,' It is a notorious fact that a great
many do use Peruna to get the alcoholic effect, and they certainly do
get it good and strong. Now, there are other so-called remedies used for
the same purpose, namely, Gensenica, Kidney Specific, Jamaica Ginger,
Hostetter's Bitters, etc."
So well recognized is this use of the nostrum that a number of the
Southern newspapers advertise a cure for the "Teruna habit." which
is probably worse than the habit, as is usually the case with these
"cures." In southern Ohio and in the mountain districts of West Virginia
the "Peruna jag" is a standard form of intoxication.
Two Testimonials.
A testimonial-hunter in the employ of the Peruna company was referred
by a Minnesota druggist to a prosperous farmer in the neighborhood. The
farmer gave Peruna a most enthusiastic "send-off"; he had been using
it for several months and could say, etc. Then he took the agent to his
barn and showed him a heap of empty Peruna bottles. The agent counted
them. There were seventy-four. The druggist added his testimonial. "That
old boy has a 'still' on all the time since he discovered Peruna," said
he. "He's my star customer." The druggist's testimonial was not printed.
At the time when certain Chicago drug stores were fighting some of the
leading patent medicines, and carrying only a small stock of them, a
boy {017}called one evening at one of the downtown shops for thirty-nine
bottles of Peruna. "There's the money," he said. "The old man wants to
get his before it's all gone." Investigation showed that the purchaser
was the night engineer of a big downtown building and that the entire
working staff had "chipped in" to get a supply of their favorite
stimulant.
"But why should any one who wants to get drunk drink Peruna when he can
get whisky?" argues the nostrum-maker.
There are two reasons, one of which is that in many places the
"medicine" can be obtained and the liquor can not. Maine, for instance,
being a prohibition state, does a big business in patent medicines. So
does Kansas. So do most of the no-license counties in the South, though
a few have recently thrown out the disguised "boozes." Indiana Territory
and Oklahoma, as we have seen, have done so because of Poor Lo's
predilection toward curing himself of depression with these remedies,
and for a time, at least, Peruna was shipped in in unlabeled boxes.
United States District Attorney Mellette, of the western district of
Indian Territory, writes: "Vast quantities of Peruna are shipped into
this country, and I have caused a number of persons to be indicted for
selling the same, and a few of them have been convicted or have entered
pleas of guilty. I could give you hundreds of specific cases of 'Peruna
drunk' among the Indians. It is a common beverage among them, used for
the purposes of intoxication."
The other reason why Peruna or some other of its class is often the
agency of drunkenness instead of whisky is that the drinker of Peruna
doesn't want to get drunk, at least she doesn't know that she wants to
get drunk. I use the feminine pronoun advisedly, because the remedies
of this class are largely supported by women. Lydia Pinkham's variety of
drink depends for its popularity chiefly on its alcohol. Paine's Celery
Compound relieves depression and lack of vitality on the same principle
that a cocktail does, and with the same necessity for repetition. I
know an estimable lady from the middle West who visited her dissipated
brother in New York--dissipated from her point of view, because she was
a pillar of the W. C. T. U., and he frequently took a cocktail before
dinner and came back with it on his breath, whereon she would weep over
him as one lost to hope. One day, in a mood of brutal exasperation, when
he hadn't had his drink and was able to discern the flavor of her grief,
he turned on her:
"I'll tell you what's the matter with you," he said. "You're
drunk--maudlin drunk!"
She promptly and properly went into hysterics. The physician who
attended diagnosed the case more politely, but to the same effect,
and ascertained that she had consumed something like half a bottle of
Kilmer's Swamp-Root that afternoon. Now, Swamp-Root is a very creditable
"booze," but much weaker in alcohol than most of its class. The
brother was greatly amused until he discovered, to his alarm, that his
drink-abhorring sister couldn't get along without her patent medicine
bottle! She was in a fair way, quite innocently, of becoming a drunkard.
Another example of this "unconscious drunkenness" is recorded by the
_Journal of the American Medical Association_: "A respected clergyman
fell ill and the family physician was called. After examining the
patient carefully the doctor asked for a private interview with the
patient's adult son.
"'I am sorry to tell you that your father undoubtedly is suffering from
chronic alcoholism,' said the physician.
"'Chronic alcoholism! Why, that's ridiculous! Father never drank a
drop of liquor in his life, and we know all there is to know about his
habits.'
"'Well, my boy, its chronic alcoholism, nevertheless, and at this
present {018}moment your father is drunk. How has his health been
recently? Has he been taking any medicine?'
"'Why, for some time, six months, I should say, father has often
complained of feeling unusually tired. A few months ago a friend of
his recommended Peruna to him, assuring him that it would build him up.
Since then he has taken many bottles of it, and I am quite sure that he
has taken nothing else.'"
From its very name one would naturally absolve Duffy's Malt Whiskey
from fraudulent pretence. But Duffy's Malt Whiskey is a fraud, for
it pretends to be a medicine and to cure all kinds of lung and
throat diseases. It is especially favored by temperance folk. "A
dessertspoonful four to six times a day in water and a tablespoonful on
going to bed" (personal prescription for consumptive), makes a fair grog
allowance for an abstainer.
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