Medicine: Jake Ester

The U. S. Public Health Service last week announced the nature of the poison dn the Jamaica ginger which last spring paralyzed hundreds of tipplers in all parts of the country (TIME, March 24). The poison appears to resemble a phosphoric acid ester of tricresol. It numbs and paralyzes the joints of the limbs, particularly the joints of fingers and toes.

The U. S. Public Health Service and the Prohibition Bureau traced the poisonous Jamaica ginger (colloquially called "ginger jake," "jakey") from the consumers to distributors in...

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