Strychnine vs. quinine

Unbelievably, a small headline in the Monday, Feb. 9, 1925 edition of the OSU Lantern caught my eye:

Not Strychnine or Quinine; It's Diamond Nine

By NORM SIEGEL

With strains of quinine and strychnine floating about the campus during the past week, a new nine has been added to the group—the diamond nine.

And under the supervision of Lynn W. St. John, another investigation has been opened on the campus, this one promising to bring more successful results than the first. 

...

Not a baseball diamond.

I was gobsmacked the first time I saw this clipping. As a professional journalist, I know the dark, morbid, and black humor that journalists employ when in the privacy of the newsroom - but to print this?! Nine days after Charley's death and eight after David's?

I wonder what Grandpa Fred thought when he saw that edition.

I wonder what the university's (second) athletics director Lynn W. St. John thought when he saw it, since he was partially responsible for putting together the clues.

Students weren't the only people in turmoil at OSU those first few days of February 1925. University officials were too. Once it was proven that strychnine had killed and sickened the students, and not tetanus (the first hope since it wasn't contagious) to spinal meningitis (which is contagious but at least the university was blameless for a natural disease) officials scrambled.

Capsules that hadn't been ingested were examined. Apparently the original white quinine capsules were of a different make and size of the introduced white strychnine capsules. Dean Claire A. Dye of the College of Pharmacy also insisted that there was no strychnine to be found in the pharmacy.

Oops, he then found on February 5 a small, one-ounce bottle containing about 75-300 grains (sources vary) of strychnine. But this strychnine was chemically different from the strychnine contained in the capsules.

Then they tried to claim that it was somehow accidental.

So how does someone mistake quinine for strychnine? Apparantly not easily. Quinine is more of a white powder such as powdered sugar, while strychnine is more crystalline like table sugar or salt. They look and feel different to those who handle alkaloids regularly. 

It is inconceivable nowadays to find poisons such as strychnine at a pharmacy. Quinine is a natural alkaloid that has been used for centuries in the prevention and therapy of malaria. Strychnine is a highly toxic, colorless, bitter, crystalline alkaloid used as a pesticide, particularly for killing small animals such as rats.

By 1925 strychnine had no known medical benefits, although some still used small amounts as a nervous stimulant. One of the men questioned (the son of a pharmacist!) had a small bottle of strychnine that he had purchased in Columbus and used to help stay awake during exams!

More recently at the Rio 2016 Olympics in 2016, weightlifting bronze medalist Izzat Artykov of Kyrgyzstan tested positive for strychnine, which is on the World Anti-Doping Agency’s list of banned substances. He was stripped of his medal.

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