Drugs new & old in the limelight last week:
> Demerol is a synthetic painkiller and sedative introduced in Germany in 1939. It acts much as morphine does, is not as habit-forming. A British doctor recommends it in childbirth. Demerol's great advantage: the chemicals from which it is made are plentiful. Opium, from which morphine is extracted, is not.
> A British medical officer reports curing 1,000 cases of scabies (itchy skin infestation caused by barely visible burrowing parasites) by painting patients "from neck to soles with a 20% benzyl benzoate emulsion." He claims his method is faster and cheaper than the classic...