Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1884-09-19
The Wise Physicians Attitude Toward
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Or. A. H. H. N. Murtry:-In drink.
ing alcohol men drink poison, and the
pleasure is at the expense Of injured
tissue and altered function, which
would be permanent but for the body's
power of repair. Alcohol retards di.
gestion, paralyzes thenervesc controlling
circulation, dirhinishes the importation
of oxygen into the body and ths expor.
tation:of carbonic acid from it, lowers
the Temperature CAUSES congestion OF
importahr 5tgam,,' fatigues' the heart,
injufks4 Tie hhesfrve cells, confuises; the in
tellect, stimulates the biaser passions,
disturbs muscular movement, wastes
vital force, does not nourish, lessons
the body's resistance to cold, produces
many chronic diseases, and even affects
a mans offspring. fT ="
What should be the wise PHYSICIANS
attitude toward an agent so destruct.
i've? He should not drink it himself.
for it will act as injuriously on him as
on other men, His responsibility to
his patients requires him to keep his
mental vision indimmiledt, his judgment
true, his caution watehful, his sympa-
thies warm, and hand steady, which he
cannot fully do if he drinks. He should
consider the habits and weaknesses of
his patients before prescribing alcohol
which be should do as seldom as posi-
BILE.
The results of treatment in the Lon
don temperance hospital and elsewhere,
proves that disease can be successfully
treated without alcohol, a fact which
the prescribers Of it were bound to ex-
plain. 1t is not fair to attribute a pa
TENTS death to the Withholding of al
cohol and not blame it when it has been
given. During the last fifteen years 1
have seldom ordered it or seen good re-
suits from it's use. # used at all it
should be used with the same care and
in the same way as other powerful rem
edies, and not left to the discretion of
unframed persons.
What attitude does duty to his coun-
try prompt the wise physician to as
sumo toward alcohol? He finds it sap
ping the yigor Of the nation, filling hos
pitfalls with the diseased, asylums with
the insane, and causing oyer 10000
premature deaths annually in the Unit
ed Kingdom: He finds parliament SO
Indifferent to this destruction of life as
to license 1900 places for the sale of
that which causes it. The British
Medical Association could render a
greater service to humanity than to
teach our Legislators the madness and
crimipality of flooding the country
with the greatest known destroyer of
the health Of the community:
The medical journals cannot use
their pages better than for telling our
rulers that to poison a nations water
bread is not greater insanity than to
tempt the nation with a poisonous
drink, and that alcoholic liquors are
killing the people as surely and with as
much blood outlines On the part OF
those responsible as if instead of con-
tanning alcohol, they were impregnated
with arsenic or the deadly germs OF
cholera. The medical profession should
not remain silent or inactive in the
presence of this tremendous curse
| Union Signal.
Every member of the Pioneer Union
is requested to be present at our next
regular meeting, Wednesday, oath inst,
as important work is under contempla-
ton. Don't think some n else can