The Cairo bulletin. [volume] (Cairo, Ill.) 1872-1878, 1878-01-01
OH BULLETIN
HOW TO USE STlMULANTS.
A British Physician sets Forth the
Position Taken by the Faculty.

Injunction OF Stlmulants IN disease anu
HEALTH" by DR.. Dycc Duckworth, f. X.
e. F., whose emlnence as q physician
will commend his words to the faculty.
while the clear common sense of his
differences will be found sufficient re-
commentator of them to the lady read
ers of the World. DR.. Duckworth agrees
tia, the reproach cast upon England Tor
its notorious drunkenness Is utterly
grieyous. The question, he says, ls one
Ior tho clergy and the doc ors. When
the doctors agree and can lay down
principles to guide the clergy, the two
professions will be able TO lay an ire
sistible case before parliament. IL IS dis
creditable to the profession, he thinks,
that they should be divided, not in Opin>
ion, but about facts. There is no middle
course; s,imulantS are all right if rightly
used, or all wrong it used at all or in any
degree. DR., Duckworth then gives
what he holds and sees to be the true and
legitimate positlonof thoughtful medical
men In respect to the use OF stimulants
in disease. He groups the diseases in
whose treatment alcohol is and is not 81
use. and concludes that there is no routine
in the matter of employing stimulants.
I'VE put alcohol, when its congeners,
into our therapeutic armentarium; it is 10
hand when wanted, just as are Quinine,
calomel, the lancet or the cuppiug- glass.
We cannot DO without it or with any OF
these things, but we employ them or not,
as our bedside knowledge indicates"
But is alcohol or wine food? Some
Psychologists tell US not. | do not be-
ievc them. am fully satisfied of the
nutrient power OF wine and alcohol alone,
under some conditions, or more especial
ly in conjunction with other pabuIa."
Stlmulants, DR.. .Duckworth continues, are
not necessary to healthy and well-ted
people, leading whay may be called nor
NAL lives. To them they are luxury,
not necessarily pernicious. But how
many people persistently lead normal
lives: He is not prepared to say that a
little good beer is not very valuable adj
dition to the often scant fare and coarse
food of working people, or that it may
not fairly be taken to counterfeit, as 1t
will, the many sources of depression to
which such people are inevitably expos
ed in Great Britain. If they cannot get
good beer, then the legislature is IN fault,
1ieuICai men may IaItly vclI tlIU l,v,.a.4.y
robust, well-fed and well housed to give
up stimulants il they fully maintain their
health without them. Total abstainers
are generally large eaters, and the ulti>
mate textural effects OF excess in eating
or drinking, if any, may not be very dis
similar, Il think it is proved" says DR..
Duckworth, "that the addition of little
alcoholic food TO a meal secures a more
moderate ingestion of solids, and where
it agrees. which it does not always, pros
notes Of more satisfactory digestiOns of
them. But a large number OF persons
suffering chiefly from dyspepsia or in
somnia are better without stimulants of
any kind A "daily allowance" OF al
cohol is manifestly wrong; more to-day
and less tomorrow may be needed or in-
stinctively called for. 1.-The rational in
dividual must honestly and conscienti>
ously find out for himself, what the special
needs OF his system are; and where a
right-minded Christian individual is in
earnest in such matter, and has pro,
per control over his appetite, he is not
likely to go far wrong in the matter OF
Stimulants.n
Medical men should urge teeiotali,m up
on the nervous classes Of drunkards, per.
sons who are careless and seli-indulgent,
or who by their lives or calliDgs are much
In the way OF drink. Stimulants should be
always at meal times, and only then. 81
am confident" DR.. Duckworth says, "that
as body our profession is unanimous i'll
condemning the modern American habit OF
taking odd glasses OF sIimulants at all hours,
and laments the grievous multiplication OF
the means Of gratifying this mischieyous
custom, for truly the conduct OF masses OF
young business men in our cities and large
towns in this respect is becoming disgrace.
iul, and the practice is fast gaining in other
circles and communities. Our country
IIbu VI luese ciassvs nave no excuse 10l
this, for they are well fed and have liquors
with their meals in addition to the II
hourly drains, while Americans, who are
VIGOROUSLY the worst diettians in the civ
ilized world, are wster-drinkers at meal
times"
No serious results, in DR.. Duckworth'i
opinion, follow the sudden cutting off OF
| ctihiuihhts iioht utiu VA u7iliiuh
tremens patients. As to teetotal societies
he says:
~ believe that q mission against tn,
drinking habits Of all classes and commu
mites, conducted upon principles of tota
abstinence, is hopeless one to embark up
on. It'll simply to fight the air, Little can
in the nature OF things, come of it. A cru
SADIE conducted on principles O
true moderation and sobriety, is yer
different matter. y | fatty refuse I
believe that the broad stream of commo
sense and Legitimate freedom IN this, or ali
other like matter, has flowed for centurie
in wrong channel, and that we alone !
our days are called upon not only to d
vert, but TO dam 1t up Tor all future time.
DIR. Duckworth,. however, does not dc
cry but applause "the noble example OF tot'
abstent!on from strong drinks, set by til
clergy and Others in conspicuous pos
tions,V