90 MAINE AGRICULTURAL EXPERIMENT STATION. I9IO. 



headache powder, beneath the name of the preparation, a state- 

 ment Hke the following: 'Acetanilid, 240 grains per ounce.' 

 This means that each ounce of the preparation contains 240 

 grains of acetanilid, or inasmuch as there are 480 grains in an 

 ounce, that each powder is one-half acetanilid. Or the following 

 may appear on the label: 'Phenacetin, 120 grains per ounce,' 

 which means that each powder is one-fourth phenacetm.* These 

 drugs are white powders with comparatively little taste, and 

 are often described together, as they are "similar in many respects 

 and have somewhat the same effects on the human body." 



"The unfavorable symptoms producted by these drugs affect 

 principally the heart and circulation and through them other 

 parts of the body, and are generally observed as the result of 

 their ill-advised use in the form of 'patent' medicines for the 

 relief of headache and other forms of pain. The symptom 

 which occurs most frequently in poisoning b) these drugs is 

 blueness of the skin. The bluing of the skin is not a harmless 

 manifestation, but it is due to destructive changes in the blood 

 which are the direct result of the use of the drug, and it is 

 accompanied by impoverishment of the blood." 



"Acetanilid, antipyrin, and phenacetin were at first used 

 almost exclusively for the reduction of fever, but as time went 

 on they were employed less and less for this purpose, because 

 of their weakening effects, particularly upon the heart and 

 circulation. They gradually came to be used more and more 

 for the relief of pain, however, and today this constitutes their 

 chief field of usefulness. During the time when they were 

 used principally for reducing fever they were employed under 

 the supervision of the physician and were administered with 

 medical skill and judgment, but as their power to relieve pain 

 has become better known they have been used more and more 

 by the people generally, without medical supervision, for the 

 relief of headache and other minor ills." 



"It has long been known that acetanilid, antipyrin, and 

 phenacetin are habit-forming drugs, particularly acetanilid. 

 The habit is usually acquired through the use of the remedy 

 without the supervision of a physician for the relief of minor 

 aches and pains, especially headache. Troubles of this kind 



* In the goods found in Maine this drug has borne its common name 

 of acetphenetidin. 



