The Forest Republican. [volume] (Tionesta, Pa.) 1869-1952, 1888-08-01
The Place of Alcohol and Some Re
Cenf IttrrnnCcs rs to IL.

cent UttCranCes as to It.
IL is seldom, nowadays that we have any
new Investigations as to alcohol No subject
has more elCted the attention of those who
must rank as able Investigators In the do
main of medicine especially the methods OF
Physiological and pathological research as
applied to therapeutics in general has been
fully applied to this article. Besides no one
medicine has been subjected to moro careful
observations of clinical experience. While
the result has not been to settle the question
as to the breadth of its application it cer-
tainly has been to retain it as an article Of
matcria medica, but greatly TO restrict it in
the extent of its application. The tes-
timonies of Sir James Clark as well as of
hundreds of others might be adduced in this
direction
There has recently been a congress of Ger
man physicians held at Wiesbaden, rein
forced by Investigators and special prac-
titioners from all parts of the Empire, A
recent notice thereof, in the London Lancet,
SAYS that the feature of the congress was the
paper of Dr. Binz, of Bonn, and the debate
that ensued on alcohol as a remedial agent
IL will be remembered that BiuZ is the
most recent authority and most frequently
quoted as contending for the value of alco-
hol as food lt is refreshing to hear from
his own lips precise expression of his viowS
on this subject. lt is not to he concealed,
that he clings with great tenacity TO his
view OF the Medicinal value of alcohol in
which no doubt most physicians in varying
degrees are in accord with him. But
physicians are not the class 10y whom he is
chiefly quoted, but rather by those who be-
lieve in wine for dinner, in an occasional
dram when you feel like it, and i'll beer very
frequently.
We therefore give TIE following extract
and call special attention to his use of the
word "sck bed" as denoting the kind of
invalids that may need it:
DIR. Binz set himself to prove: (D that
alcohol has value, not represented by any
other agent, in heart failure and lung disease;
t2l that it is n SDdrmihei economic factorl
in the organism, because it is consumed
therein; and GA that it operates as a con-
troller of pyreNia and fever On the sick
bed its virtues are invaluable: but in the
healthy beet it is difficult to define where
its abuse is not felt. For the man in good
health needs no stimulation, no artificial
ecoromizer of energy or replaccr of a bumen,
no depreSsant of temperament. All that can
he proved in favor of alcohol in such n case
Is its power of renewing cerebral energy
when lowered by mental work. Even here
moderation in well watered alcohol is inn
perative. Dr. Bnz further contended that
alcohol consumption between meals especially
In ihe form of beer is n great, and, in Ger
many, national evil practiced as it is in
the stutfy atmosphere OF cellars and that
too, for hours. Not only do the secondary
products OF beer exhaust the system and in
duce an adipoSe habit, but tie habitual beer
drinker is as much an alcohoist as the
drinker of drains, with this difference, that
he has not the excuse of the latter in that
moral wretchelne for which spirits are an
immediate, though in the long run fatal
remedy
1t will thus he seen that Binz is the last
mani to be quoted in favor of any ordinary
Use OF fermented or malt liquors, or even in
favor of loose prescription in daily use, He
defines closely the class of cases in which it
q ln1 a - IA 10
with the view that i reduces temperature, a
fact supported by the recent cose investiga-
ttons of XunZ. This removes entirely the cd
defense for alcohol that it keeps out cold and
makes up for defective animal heat. We
have another recent utteranca of much im-
portance because it states the growing senti-
ment of medical practitioners who have been
close clinical observers OF this substance. In
1871 many of the most distinguished medical
men of London expressed their views as to
the needlessness of alcohol as a beverage and
as TO its overuse in medical prescriptions.
Dr. !. j. Ridge, of Enfield, near London,
has recently collected similar testimonies.
A recent eminent authority speaks thus:
The medical man that does not see that
alcohol is very two-edged tool must be ig-
norant of the literature of his profession and
destitute of the lowest powers of observa-
tion. lie must also be unintoFmed of the
best practice of the leading physicians of his
me. which we may without immo 1esty sup
Dl~t 10 le n itlleI Illlt IMAM any anterior
period. When men like DR.. Hughes Ben
nett have treated $50 cases of pneumonia
with scarcely any mortality and a very
small amount of alcohol; when men like DIR.
Gardner tel us that fever, especially in the
young, does better without alcohol; when
men like DIR. Wilks tell us that in bronchitis
he has repeatedly seen Improvement where a
stimulant has been let of. and that he is
convinced that the mischief done by stimu-
lants in heart disease is immense (The
Lancet, Vol. !, 1867; p. 506)-those are
withoal.. excuse who think its indis-
criminlre prescription in underlined and
large quantities light matter One
other great improvement in our estimate of
the uses of alcohol is to view it in regard to
the state of the glands and blood vessels of
the patient If these are blocked, and if the
powers of elimination are impaired, it can
be easily understood that in more advanced
age, when alcohol is thought to be more ad-
mssible or even necessary, it must be given
with much judgment as TO form and dose if
harm is not to be DONE
: While we fully maintain the inestimabie
value of fermented liquors in certain cases of
disturbed circulation, of impairment of lung
tissue, we must strictly hold TO the distinc-
tion between medicine and beverage, and not
allow the physiological chemist or physician
TO he quoted as authority in a direction
against which he fully protests. -Indepen-
dent.