Perspectives

Two year old Alberta Yvonne Howell, the only child of a couple in Haskell, died on Oct. 15, 1937 after taking a poisonous but perfectly legal drug, prescribed by doctors and sold over-the-counter by pharmacists, that was blamed for ten deaths in Texas and another 97 in 14 more states in a six-week period. Salesmen for the S.E. Massengill Company of Bristol, Tennessee reported customers were clamoring for a liquid version of the miracle drug sulfanilamide. Samuel Evans Massengill, a licensed physician, assigned the rush job to his chief chemist, who discovered sulfanilamide dissolved in a drug called diethylene glycol. This was no secret in pharmaceutical circles. What was not as well known was the fact that sulfanilamide and diethylene glycol were a toxic combination. The Massengill chemist would have found this out, too, had he been given the time to conduct a few simple tests. But the boss wanted the product pronto, and the lab rat wanted to stay on Dr. Massengill’s good side. So he whipped up a 240-gallon batch of the concoction christened Elixir Sulfanilamide. Hundreds of bottles were quickly shipped to four doctors offices and 96 drug stores in 68 communities across Texas alone.

Early voting in the Nov. 8 general election begins Oct. 24 and runs through Nov. 4. Applications for voting by mail must be received by Oct. 28, according to the secretary of state’s office.

The Jonathan Hardin Chapter – National Society Daughters of the American Revolution invites people to attend ceremonies to place wreaths on veterans graves at Driver Cemetery in Teague, and LaSalle Cemetery in Groesbeck on Dec. 17.