The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1869-11-09
ARE ALCOHOLIC LIQUORS NECES-
SARY As MEDICINES?


lion of report recently made by two pro-
minent physicians, under the direction of the
Medical Society of Pennsylvania, which
strongly condemns the common practice of
prescribing stimulants. 1t elaborates the
theory that although this system of treatment
Is unnecessary, it is so nearly universal that
cit sends its victims daily by thousands pre-
maturely to the grave, and fills our land with
drunkenness and crime" These allegations
are of such startling and important nature
that the grounds on which they are based de-
serve the attentive consideration Of the
general public, and of all who are Interested
in the welfare of their families, as we'll as the
medical profession. The report says:-
'tEvery physician whom we know person ally,
all of whom we have heard, use and recon-
mend the use of alcoholic liquors in some
form in their practice. The great majority
use them freely ia trifing as we'll as grave
cases. on drunkards as well as on the total
abstinence peoples on the child of a day and
the parent of threescore and ten" As they
are prescribed as a preventive as we'll as a
cure, and administered in nearly every dis
ease, the authors of the report contend that
the appetite which proves so terribly injurious
advice and direction of men specially
charged with the preservation of health
Authorities for this practice are, of
course, not wanting, and it seems
that some of the approved modern medical
works exalt the various alcoholic preparations
into great specifics which alone can cure the
ills that flesh is heir to. While this theory is
systematically applied in numberless cases
no temperance agitation can make deep and
lasting impression upon the community
Families who are constantly admonished by
those whose opinions command profound re-
spect that brandy, wine, whisky, gin, bitters,
and malt liquors are highly useful to ward off
disease from sound constitutions, absolutely
necessary to build up enfeebled frames, and
the best of medicines to cure disease, will pay
little heed to the decamations of the cham
pions of total abstinence. One quiet word
from the family physician will prove infinitely
more potential than the long orations of
Cough or a Father Matthew. What is most
surprising is that the increased use of liquors
as a medicine seems to have kept pace with
the progress of the prohibitory agitation, and
that their condemnation in the lecture-room
and the pulpit was instantly followed by the
increased popularity of the stimulant treat
ment among physicians. There is little doubt
that this popularity has been carried to undue
lengths, and that many doctors are now
in the habit of prescribing liquors in cases
where, without even effecting transient
good, they do great permanent harm. AS
there was at one time rage for the lancet
and at another for calomel, so there is now an
undue prominence given to liquors as reme-
dial agents; and if all the conclusions of the
report are not accepted, it will be fortunate
for the country if it exercises, even in a mo-
derate degree, restraining influence upon
the practitioners who are characterized as
E'worshippers" of the fancied utility of alco-
hol as a medicine.
The main question, however, after all, is
whether liquors are really necessary as medi-
cines. On this point there is an evident con-
hict of authority, and while much has been
written of their advantages, their scientific
antagonists are comparatively few in number.
Many warnings have been made against
a too frequent prescription OF stimu-
lants by the profession, and the evil re-
suits of excessive drinking are conceded
on all hands; but few physicians have
dared to Danish alcoholic preparations from
their list of remedies. We are told, how
ever, that such a course is not altogether
without precedent, and some very respecta-
BILE authorities are cited to sanction it. The
renowned DR.. Benjamin Rush, of this city,
was one of the first to speak against the use
of alcoholic stimulants; Professor Chapman
declared it to be the duty of every physician
to discontinue the baneful notion of their
remedial efficacy" and Professor Gross now
takes similar ground. Professor Seward, of
Washington, alleges that ''there is no case in
which ardent spirits are indispensable, and
for which there is not an adequate substi-
tute." Several physicians are cited who in
a long professional career successfully treated
every form of disease without using alcoholic
remedies in q single instance. And the re-
port adduces the opinions and researches of
number of eminent medical writer's to prove
that alcohol does not possess the healing and
nourishing virtues which have been theoreti-
cely ascribed to it.
In view of the manifold evils of intempe-
rance, this whole subject deserves more
attentive consideration than it has hitherto
received The theories on which the doctors
still disagree should be subjected, as far aS
possible, to the most searching experiments.
If it is indeed true that alcoholic prepara-
lions are never necessary as a medicine, that
fact is of the highest Importance to mankind,
and its establishment by indisputable proofs