The Pharmaceutical Journal
Vol 271 No 7260 p160
2 August 2003

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Paper peril It seems to me that we are suffering sorely from a proliferation of paper surging upon us through the postal services. The vulgar expression for this is junk mail...[more]

Deficiency disease Percy Bysshe Shelley, in his 'Defence of poetry' (1821) made the profound remark: "the great instrument of moral good is the imagination; and poetry administers to the effect by acting on the cause." [more]

Dangerous habit We constantly come across reports of the dire effects of the stimulant known as methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA), which is taken, often by youngsters, as a "recreational drug" under the name of "ecstasy" [more]

The rich life If Avarice be thy Vice, yet make it not the Punishment [more]

Paper peril

It seems to me that we are suffering sorely from a proliferation of paper surging upon us through the postal services. The vulgar expression for this is junk mail.

It is intriguing to remember that the word "junk" was originated in the 15th century to describe old rope which was utilised for making mats and also oakum for plugging the gaps developing in ships' hulls. Today we reserve the word as a generic name for any old rubbish.

One regrettable result of the proliferation of junk mail has been the need to distinguish anything serious from the mass of the frivolous, so that it will not, the sender hopes, be disregarded by the recipient. So we increasingly come across the superscription "'Important: this is not a circular." Whether it really is important is another matter, but the sender obviously hopes to steer it away from the rubbish basket.

Then there is the warning, prominently displayed: "Open immediately!" This instruction, more often than not, prompts a sophisticated recipient to divert it immediately to the waste receptacle without the formality of breaching the envelope, in the expectation that it will tell you in glowing terms that you have won a massive prize and need only claim it. Anyone with any notion of natural law and social customs will be aware that "tha gets owt for nowt" in this world.

In a rather different category come the mail order catalogues that thump upon the doormat with depressing frequency, sometimes in duplicate. Unlike most junk mail, some of these are worthy of attention, especially in the dull days running up to Christmas. However, I do not look favourably upon them if they arrive before summer has passed, and find many of the items offered attempting to sell me something for which I can see no legitimate use, let alone need.

Some charitable organisations, I feel, overdo their eagerness in this regard, just as they ask for donations unnecessarily often and so discourage some contributors. And who worries about the poor forests of the world, and the climate they control ?

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Deficiency disease

Percy Bysshe Shelley, in his 'Defence of poetry' (1821) made the profound remark: "the great instrument of moral good is the imagination; and poetry administers to the effect by acting on the cause."

Now imagination signifies the faculty for forming images in the mind without direct observation, and to consider things that are not present to the senses. It is closely related to sympathy, which is the emotional affinity between two or more persons, and to empathy, which is the ability to enter into the emotional world of someone else. And in the daily round of existence, imagination is the faculty which enables us to exercise foresight and by doing so avoid accidents and disasters.

Lack of imagination, I suggest, might be rated as a deficiency disease, and its ravages could be averted if we took it more seriously. I was prompted to this conclusion by a report in the news bulletin of the Royal National Lifeboat Institution that in June an entire relief lifeboat was stolen while it was parked on its trailer in the car park of a Hartlepool hotel, while its transport driver took a necessary rest break. Apart from the fact that the RNLI is a charity and not reimbursed from public funds, the deliberate sabotaging of emergency equipment is a flagrant breach of civilised conventions.

And this is no isolated incident. In my own locality it has become a detestable habit to remove or even wantonly destroy lifebelts which are sited to enable the rescue of swimmers in difficulties. Moreover, the premises where lifeguards store their equipment have become a target for thieves.

Individuals who commit such crimes are obviously devoid of imagination and lack basic humanity. If we assume that they suffer from the deficiency disease I have described, what can be done to remedy the situation? Policing is not the answer, and imprisonment, when they are detected, is no solution.

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Dangerous habit

We constantly come across reports of the dire effects of the stimulant known as methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA), which is taken, often by youngsters, as a "recreational drug" under the name of "ecstasy". This poetic name is misleading, especially to individuals who may be aware of Thomas Gray's phrase "riding sublime upon the seraph-wings of ecstasy".

It must never be forgotten that MDMA is an amphetamine derivative capable of producing a broad range of toxic effects, including psychosis, depression, hepatitis, renal failure and damage to central seratoninergic nerves. The alarming feature of intoxication in surroundings of excessive heat and exercise is total collapse attributable to acute water intoxication.

Among several factors that alter an individual's response to MDMA is gender. Women are believed to be more susceptible than are men to the neurotoxic effects of the drug.

Another factor that has recently come to light is Parkinson's disease. In the New England Journal of Medicine for 3 July two doctors from Baylor College of Medicine in Texas describe the case of a man aged 19 who developed a tremor in his right hand and later in his right leg, and was diagnosed as suffering from Parkinson's disease. He was treated with benzhexol, which reduced the tremor but caused so much nausea that the patient could take it only once weekly. Over four months he found progressive difficulty in rising in the morning. He had taken MDMA twice a month for six months before the onset of the disease and had experienced trismus, diaphoresis and euphoria. He took no neuroleptic drugs.

This patient's father, aged 62, and his father's half-brother, aged 55, had a history of Parkinson's disease. The patient's possible genetic predisposition to the disease may have made him susceptible at an unusually early age because of the insult to his dopaminergic system offered by his drug abuse.

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The rich life

If Avarice be thy Vice, yet make it not the Punishment. Miserable men commiserate not themselves, bowelless unto others, and merciless unto their own bowels. Let the fruition of things bless the possession of them, and think it more satisfaction to live richly than dye rich. For since thy good works, not thy goods, will follow thee; since wealth is an appertinance of life, and no dead Man is Rich; to famish in Plenty, & live poorly to dye Rich, were a multiplying improvement in Madness, & use upon use in Folly.
— Sir Thomas Browne: 'Christian morals' (1716).

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