The Bolivar bulletin. [volume] (Bolivar, Hardeman County, Tenn.) 1865-1888, 1881-12-15
ALCOHOL NOT EVEN A FIT mEDI-
CINE.
BY DIR. NJ. 5. DAVIS, N. D., L. 7. D., OF
CHICAGO. (CHICAGO's GREATEST
MEDICAL. AUTHORITY

I
MEDICAL AUTHORITY.)
Alcohol acts upon the humaa system
as an anesthetic, organic sedatiYe and
antipyrctic, and a skillful physician
NAV use IL iii any case of disease
where either or all these effects are
needed, provided lie can not have at
hand any other agent or agents with /
which ne can accomplish the same
purposes more promptly and with less
danger of any collateral injury to MS
patient. This proVisO, however, i'll
honestly attended to, viii practically
exclude alcohol from the list OF ordi- /
nary remedial agents.
As an an9sth9tic and anodvne. all I
viii agree that il is far inferior to.
and less manageable than either chic /
reform, nitrous oxide, and the ordi- /
nary narcotics.
AS an organic sedatiye and antipy- /
retic it is so much less prompt and /
/ efficient in its action that either water !
/ applied externally, or the internal use
of quinine, salicylic acid, digitalis, and
n score of other articles, that no we'll
] Informed practitioner would think of
selecting it for these purposes. Really,
at the present time, there are but two
! prCtences, or supposed morbid condi-
prescribed by the enlightened part of
the profession. One of these is that
popular prevalent condition of exhaus-
ton or impairment from OyerwOrk,
mental or physical, or from excessive
drains by nursing or unnatural dis
charges.
1t is in this large class of half-inya-
lids that the moderate daily use Of
beer, ale, wine, and, occasionally
stronger alcoholic drinks is prescribed
on the plea that their power to retard
the waste Of tissues is conservative
and equivalent to the addition of new
matter by assimilation, the utter fall
lacy of which we have already indi-
Gated with sufficient clearness.
The other morbid condition for
which these agents are very generally
prescribed is, that weakness of tho
heart sometimes met with in low
forms of fever, and in the advanced
stage Of other acute diseases.
1t is claimed that alcohol is capable
= OF STRENGTHENING and sustaining the
action Of the heart under the circum-
stances just named, and, also, under
the first depressing influe nee of severe
shock
There is nothing in the ascertained
. physiological action of alcohol on the
human system, so developed by a wide
: range Of experimental investi cation,
: to sustain this claim. Indeed it is
5 difficult to conceive how it Is possible
that an agent which so plainly and
directly diminishes nerve sensibility
and voluntary muscular action, can
: at the same time, act as cordial or
heart-tOnic. I have used the sphyg-
= mOgraph and every other available
: means for testing Xperimentally the
effects Of alcohol upon the action of
: the heart and blOod-vessels generally,
but have failed in every instance to
get proof of any increased force Of
cardiac action.
c The first and very transient effect is
generally increased frequency of beat,
= followed Immediately by dilatatiOn OF
o the peripheral vessels from impaired
z vaso-motar' senSibility and the same
{ unsteady or Wavy sphygmOgraphic
l. tracing as is given in typhoid fever
/, and which is usually regarded as evil
l dence of cardiac debility. Sometimes
!, when the doses Of alcohol are in
n creas cd to the extent of decided anBs-
theSia the heart acts slower and the
1 arteries have more volume from the
T. increased obstruction to the movement
and smaller vessels, and the dimin-
y ished oxvgenatiOn and decarboniza-
ton OF the blood in the lungs. Turn
y ing from the field of experimentation
II to the sick-rOOm, my search for the
:. evidences of the power of alcohol &c
sustain the force of the heart, or il
any way to strengthen the patient
Is has been equally unsuccessful. [ wa!
9 educated and entered upon the prac
? tice of medicine at time when alCO
II holiC drinks were universally regarded
as stimulating and heat-prodUcing il
d thoir Influence on the human system
+ and commenced their use withou
prejudice or preconceived notions
>! But the first ten years Of direct Ciini
y cal or practical observation satisfied
me fully Of the incOrrectnesS of thes
- views, and very nearly banished TIL
- use OF these agents from my list o
~ remedies. And while it is true tina
u during the last thirty years have no
- pre- scribed for internal use the aggre
l. gate amount of one quart of any kim
~ OF fermented or distilled drinks, eithe
~ in private or hospital practice, yet
have continued to have abundant op
y, portunities for observing the effects c
10 these agents as given by others wit
w
-. simple truth compcIs me to say that
9" have never yet seen case in whic
;! the use Of alcoholic drinks either in
/" creased the force Of the hearts actiO
or strengthened the patient beyOn
the first thirty minutes after it wa
swallowed.
70 But could detail very many case
-, in which the free administration {
- alcoholic remedies was quieting til
l. patients re5tlessness, embedding til
y, -spillary and peripheral circulation
-; and steadily fayoring increased pa
be- sive or hyposiaiic engagements {
the lungs and other internal Viscort
NJ and, thereby, Fastening fatal result
70 where both attending physicians an
- friends thought they were the onl
II agents that were keeping the patiel
~. alive. Yet. persuading the abandon
al ment of their use and the substitute
~ Of simple nourishment, aided by sue
~ nerve eXcitants as tea, coffee, carbon
,no ate of ammonia, canphOr, stychni
IA ETC., judiciOusly administered, instes
nv of further prOstratiOn or sinking
80 consequence ofsuch withdrawal, thel
' has generally been a slow but stead
improvement in all cases where i'll
provement was possible, and IN l
w. case has it been found necessary
t. advisable to return to the use Of Il
" alcoholic articles after they had bee
m abandoned. III am asked why, und
re. such a statement of facts, the profe
Of sion continues to UrpScri be the