Dr. Feelgood
This article is from the archive of The New York Sun before the launch of its new website in 2022. The Sun has neither altered nor updated such articles but will seek to correct any errors, mis-categorizations or other problems introduced during transfer.
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By the late 1930s, German refugee Max Jacobson, M.D., had established a general practice on the Upper East Side catering to writers, musicians, and entertainers who nicknamed him “Miracle Max” or “Dr. Feelgood” for the “vitamin injection” treatments that made them happy and gave them seemingly limitless energy. Jacobson’s panacea was 30 to 50 milligrams of amphetamines – the mood-elevating neural energizers also known as speed – mixed with multivitamins, steroids, enzymes, hormones, and solubilized placenta, bone marrow, and animal organ cells.
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