The Middlebury register. [volume] (Middlebury, Vt.) 1850-1882, 1872-04-30
The Doctors and Alcohol.

SlX hnndreu years ago, whon the uOc
tors were amusing themselves with the
senseless idea of finding an elixir of life
they found alcohol. One would have
supposed, knowing where it came from
that they might have received it suspi.
ciously, as the essence of evil, the pro.
curing cause of intoxication, with all its
attendant ills. But no. they went into
ccstacics over it. They called it the yer.
liable "elixir,' "an emanation from di.
vinity sent for the physical renovation
Of mankind" and as part Of divinity
itself, why should it not be called the
"water of life."
Intelligence Of all kinds spread slowly
in those days but gradually the doctors
came to prescribe it freely in all sorts Of
diseases, and, for long time, this was
about the only use made of it. Sir Will
liam Douglas says that, cup to the mid
die Of the seventeenth century, distilled
liquors were used only in medicine y
and other authorities coincide with him.
Bat By this long apprenticeship the peo-
pie came to be well acquainted with it.
and learned to prescribe. And since, like
other stimulants and narcotics, it has the
popularity of decciving the feelings, the
people were deceived, and the physicians,
who were supposed to know all about ii,
did not undeceive them. To the doctors,
then, we plainly and directly owe the
common use Of distilled spirits.
Brewed and fermented liquors date so
far back that history does not inform us
how they werc first brought into usc We
know, however. that the doctors have long
prescribed them freely. They give them,
as one of their own numbee says, mot
merely for dose or two, hut for consid-
cradle periods of time" They are pre-.
scrbed to be taken every day. or several
times day; and often in the shape of
drinks for weeks and months together.
But it makes no difference who prescrbes
them, nor for what purpose they are
taken the tendency is to increase the
quantity, to form the uncomfortable APP
petite to make drunkards.
Whilst some physicians ridicue this
idea, others candidly testify to the fact.
There can be no doubt" says DR.. Trot.
ter, "that many persons have to date
their first propensity to drinking to the
too frequent use of spirituous liquors as
medicines. 1t is to be feared also, that
medical men have done injury to society
by the frequent prescription Of alcoholic
liquors, both on special occasions and as
a part of their ordinary dict" DR.. Foth.
ergill, an eminent English physician of
of the last century, acknowledged that he
had made many drunkards by advising
his patients to drink ga little spirit and
water" DR.. Ferrier. contemporary,
says that he had seen many similar in-
stances "among persons not only temper.
ate but delicate in their moral habits ="
Professor Laycock more recently says
that in this way many persons Of educa-
tion and position have become irrevoca.
bic sots.
Many more quotations might be made
from English authorities who have gone
into the matter much more extensively
than We have here. Among our own
physicians who give similar testimonies
might be mentioned DR.. Storer, DR.. Day,
and DR.. John Bell. DR.. Mussey some
years ago declared that so long as alco.
hol retained a place among sick patients,
50 long there would be drunkards. Time
was he adds, "when it was used only as
medicine; and who shall daro offer a
guarantee that it viii not again overspread
the world with disease and death" This
was written during the height of the tenn
peranee reform. If temperance men had
gone on then and thoroughly cleaned up
the medical profession, their work would
have gone on triumphantly But they
did not recognize this as one stronghold
of their enemy. and so they left the men,
whom all the people coniide ill., to call il
good, and prescribe it freely as medicine.
The result is, that very many are now
beginning to think that they went a little
too far in their notions Of the necessity of
total abstaining. They fancy they can
take little not only with safety, but
with decided advantage and so they are
beginning to tipple again all over the
land. There is every probability of our
realizing DR.. Mussey's prediction, unless
we can arouse the people to the fact Of
their danger, and convince them OF the
source whence it comes The Nafioaai
Temperance Adrocate.