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 Cincinnati and Johnson City, Tenn., then to the Manhattan and Boston manufacturers, who were indicted for violation of the Prohibition Amendment. The inclusion of the phosphoric acid ester of tricresol in the Jamaica ginger was an accident of careless manufacture.

The discoverers of the contaminated ginger extract cooperated with members of the Tennessee Board of Health. Although the poison now is known, doctors as yet have no cure for its paralyzing effects, which have rarely been fatal.

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