The Maryville times. (Maryville, Tenn.) 1884-1944, 1886-01-20
ALCOHOL AS A MEDICINE.

AICOHOl AS n MEDICINE.
Its Inutiiity a. q Remedial Agent in
Medical Practice--It Merely Diminishes
the sensibility Of the Nervous system
and Brsin--An Able Address 10y Miss
willard Before the students Of u Medi.
cal College. '''
The ladies of the South Side (Chi-
cago) VIC. T. U..recently gave re-
ception to the three hundred students
Of the Hahnemann Medical College.
Miss Frances E. Willard, President of
the n. W. G. I. u, delivered an adj
dress pertinent to the occasion, full Of
good points and convincing arguments.
A portion of her remarks are given be-
low: aai -a .5ii O.l
Some illustrations from personal observs-
ton may help to make more clear the reason
why the w. c. T. o. Is intent upon securing
81 possible help from the med ical profession,
et0 why, In fourteen States, 1t has already
successfully lab0red to provide for scientific
lnoffucsiOn Ia the common schools relative
e. theeyil effects Of alcoholic beverages
Ofe stormy afternoon in ISs, went with
W. G. T. u, to the Harrison Street Police Sta.
ton. AS Is generally known, this soc ETY. has
nov police matrOn at every station In the
| CITY, whose duty II is to look after the women
brought there tor violations of law, ana to
| minister with sisterly kindness to their needs
both PHI, steal aud spiritual. We found that
\ many had been brought in that day. but the
matron directed our attention especially to
| the most distant cell, whore a woman lay
! curled up on bench. with an old shawl over
her head Shc had hcen brought. III drunk
some hours before As We stood there think.
| ing her to be nseep and lame ntrg In whis.
| pered tones. her sad condition, the woman
| arose, came toward us, grasping with a small
VIII te hand the bars OF the cell, and spoke to
seay es swe for one 10
| her of our sympathy. and ina talk that fol
lowed learned that she was born in leading
| Southern city. had graduated from a first.
teacher One spring, about four years pre-
vious to our meeting, worn out with her
| duties. she went to tho family physician, who
prescribed an ALCOHOLIC beverage asa tonic
from that day she had gone on. little b, little
until now she was confirmed Inebriate,
| often reforming, but us often falling into sin.
Subsequent invest'gat on proved that she was
hoaSo 20 Thew 1 anS we am bavs ons aaa IN
| power for her. She has been atthe Martha
| Washington Home. and for months mas kept
her pledge, only to fail away from it ut last
4 have ment oued thus one case out OF ten
| thousand that come to the knowledge of
practical Temperance workers. because u
single illustration is often retained in memory
when generalization NAV be forgotten. and
because this one is type OF fully One-half
the cases OF nebriet' among women and per.
haps one third In men, viz: 1t began by an
alcoholic prescription 1t is quite probable
| that the ply stefan whose ignorant presCrir-
ton was pure and cultured woman's frst
l step toward ruin never knew the fact ana
| would be unspeakably astOunded, not to say
afflicted. II 1t were brought to his attention.
said the prescription was an ignorant one
! and am prepared to prove il on the highest
medical authority. Ift
Sir Henry Thompson. Of London, than
l whom the world metropolis has not a physi.
| IAN more distingu she'd makes the following
| declaration: "AlcOhOlic drinks are perfectly
useless for any Of the condit Ons OF life to
which men are subjected save under the most
exceptional oondlti0ns: which none hut skilled
| observers can declare
DR.. Andrew Cla,k, OF London, physician to
| the Queen and 20 Gladstone, says:- "AlcohOl Ia
| net only not helper Of work but certain
hiaderer, and everJ man who comes to the
| II INT OF profession In London Ia marked by
| lis one characteristic, that the more busy he
gVts the less in shape OF alcohol he takes, and
rs excuse Is: ! am sorry, but can not
| take it and do my work.
Dr. William B. Carpenter, one. of the great
tst names in medicine, Gays: ut ia the duty
i of the medical practitioner to discourage as
much us possible the habitual u G of alcohol
4 10 liquors in however 'mOdei ate u quantity
by all persons in ordinary health. and to
X seek to remedy those slight departures from
health which result from the wear aud tear
OF active life by the means which shall most
d,reotly remove or autagellze their causes,
instead of by such as SIMPLY palltate their ef-
/ fects'
DR. James h Nichols, editor OF thu toston
JOMrnal Of Chemstrp. says emphatlcally that
1.-THE banishment of alcohol would not de
pr,ve us of ngle one OF the Indispensable
apents which modern civilization demands
Neither would chemical science DO retarded
ease n any form is it medicine which
m ght not be dispensed with and other agents
| substituted. - - -
DR. James Edmunds founder of the London
Temperance Hospital states that the mOrtalt
| ~ there is -four and one hair per cent. lower
thantn any other hospital taking the same
run OF cases" Alcohol is almnst never used
in the hospital: Is not employed in max NC
II two of water. heing substituted at a cost one
NTH less than that of alcohol thctures, is nov
! used IN amputations or typhoid lever, aud
with results that demonstrate the superiority
Of this method
In the Manchester Royal InNrnary. En-
gland, the med,cidal use of alcohol has falleT
OFF in eight recent years eighty.seven pei
cent. and the death rate from about clever
4 1. % seycn per cont
Felix D.. Oswald. one CT the most Learned
writer's living. whose art cles I'm thu
khonal celebrity, says 10 that magaz ne
~ will venture the prediction that befOrl
The middle OF the twentieth century tn,
internal use Of drugs will BE- discarded BY OIL
|
thing aud medical dogma Is quite another
: As DR. Edmunds wisely saws: Forty year
! ago the fathers of the vers men who now pro
scribe brandy: wine and aie Tor ailnost al dis
, ting instead They did this conscientiously
too. no doubt. but then. rs now; the tendenc!
OF their medicines was to kill rather thai
cure" 'it ti Hi
!, Far be II from me. uon-expert in medicine
. to attempt anything more Than TO cite tn
opinions of leaders IN the noble profession 4
which you aspire, that the reasons, based OF
l export testimony, why the W. G. T. u. or
poses the use Of alcoholics in medicine ma
be clearly understood. sst N5 llH ~
We use in our teaching of the young d.
psysicisn s alter he had studicd with DR.. Bear
J mont the stomach Of Alexis st. Martin, au
had during period OF forty yoars dissecte
. three hundred drunkarde, some OF whom ha
, been d.stinGuished statatesu,en In their day
. The awful object lesson presented in thes
! plates should 6e carefully considered BY e,
cry medical student n the land. Ma
i The cumulative testimon of the best ecier
, fists expiodes the medical d0ymas that alex
, hoi is either a food or producer of heat, Q
that il increases the eahciency Of the heart
A. IA his admirable lecture, already auote,
~ DR.. Davis gives q resume OF the exper
Y ments which have revealed these wonde
. fui truths, which have in them the force G
! dynamite in exp.oding the old theories: Lea
, / ing scientists 10 Trance, Ger,nany. kuyian
!, ! and Amer ca. though working separately. ha,
o reached substantially the came conclusion
WHY the truth has been evolved so slowly
I ! rendered appaseqtin lthis statement of D
2 y. g. Davis, former President of the Amer. G.
Medical Assotdatton. Q pins q an and ecienti
: of nifty years exper ence as he states IN q
!. preface to he recent standard work on IT
= Principles snd Practice. OF Ned roine. I
. ! sage: aHarfhg Thus Determined. experinct
: ally, that HlOohol y neither food upr gene
Ator Of force In the living body, the. quest,