The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1890-01-09

rled. Ley bel. ng 10 AcAllister's 400 d
are Just returning from reception. II
I you waoch and wait awhile YOU will see
| their family physician follow them into the
par!or GGd examine the old gentleman. 1t
! Is one OF tie mysteries OF social life"
1t didn't take Us long TO discover the IN
| obtrLslve sign OF a well-knOwn physician
Fl aiming from behind a perfect garden Of
| eX tic plants IN the room Whers May and
Dec nicer had Just entered.
| That girl IS his fourth wife," said my
companion, as we wandered away on our
| tour OF observation, ''alth ugh the old gen
| le.nan Is almost an octogenarlan.
! IL can't be possible, said One writer.
| "Fsaaw T" replied rne doctor; Il eau point
| you out hundred old beaux Ia almost the
! same condition. IL Is one of the open
| secrets of local society, that Of building up
and prolongi. e the Ii ,es OF old Takes Ike
HIM, and sesela OF. our best physicians are
| making fortunes III the business
| Nv hat do YOU meant
! Exactly what | say There are able and
well Known medical men living II mansions
IN THIS city, who are coming coHpetences
! by reJuvenating society people whFse ex-
| cesSes nave broken their health. If ne OF
| our old roues mas been on a drunk he goes
! TO them. II he finds his physique falling ne
consu IS them. After & heavy din .er, o.
| reception that has put INN literally VITA
/
his medic al adviser, braces up bit and re-
| peatS the experiment Of excess until re
finally gets beyond all cure. | know men
| III the clty-Judge', generals, artists, poets,
| city officials ana all the reat-everv one of
nose names would be familiar to you.
Some weeks ago an eK-United States
| Senator, a man of 20, came 70 me SO bat
Tered and oxen down by hard living that
| l almost despaired of his cure. He had
| lately Ipln married IN hpautifui ri nf
| ~, and had celebrated the event by suca a
denauch that be was mere totterIng ruin.
| Ills young wife had abandoned MIN in dis
gust, and ne came TO me cryi g like child
who had lost a pet toy, begging me to
straighten him out and brace him up. l
prescribed a recupelating elixir, contain
ing some valeriaa, br mide of soda, aud
spirits OF lavender He came under my
treatment for nearly two moths as regu-
lar as clockwork, and, alth ugh nearly
| three score and ten, he wa as wild q bird as
| auy young man about town.
he would go on the most furious sprees,
| driving, sometimes, from place to place in
| his carriage for days at a time, drinking
perpetually un il MS system became Il tterly
exhausted, and he had to be literally car
ried from his coach to the door of his resi-
dence. Well, after two months Of caref ii
medical treatment and numerous alcoholic
baths, he completely regained his former
self and was as well as ever. Then ne at
tended an other reception, drank to excess
and is now just as BAD as ever-in fact, his
case is utterly hopeless.
Another well-known society man, also of
advanc age, is now famous in the circle
of the 400 for his perfectly Sardanapalian
excuses. 1t is his boast that he never
drank anything weaker than cafe pousse,
and yet this modern satyr never undertook
| a spree without having to submit to medi-
cal treatment af erward to save his reason
if not his life. He was one of my patients,
and the younger Dumas never wrote such a
romance as l could give you Of that man.
| After he got home from a spree | usually
prescribed for him an alcoholic bath, with
massage treatment, teespoonful of bro
mide of soda and spirits of lavender every
fifteen minutes or so. After this he would
go off directly on another gorgs.n
Are such cases common in your expert
ence, doctorn' was Z sked.
80 COMMON that | can safely assert that
three-fourths of our society men who have
passed the middle age come under this rule.
physician of his own aud q private drug
store, which contains all the necessary
drugs and remedies. y
"What is the result of all thisI' was next
asked.
That is very difficult to say. Some of
these men-the majority, in fact-get mar
ried to girls young enough to be their
grand children. la such cases they build
themselves up by a couple of months strict
medical care and reform. Such as do not
change their mode Of living usually end by
becoming hopeless paralyt cs or worse.
The human system Is a wonderful thing
and its powers of recuperation are so great
that health may be restored even after the
most frightful excuses in case the proper
rules are observed. The trouble is that
society men abandon themselves to the
most disgusting and destructive debau-
cherries without restraint, and only when
the natural harvest of their excuses is rip
ened C me to their physc an for relief.
There Is an ex-confederate colonel now
in this city who for several years used to
spend his winters in a ceaSeless round of
dissipation on his own place. and his sum-
mer la my care Here he Is now uttarlv
broken down. All the skill and attention
lavished upon him and which cost him
thousands Of dollars were nullified in effect
by his insane defiance of every natural rule,
Such is the case with nearly all our society
men to-day. They are nearly all, SO to
speak. confirmed invalids before they reach
the age of 30. Society presents hundreds
of examples of men long past their prime
VINO indulge their ap cities like people in
the full flush of manly st! engh-old beauy
who do their best to forget ne lapse of
time, and live and make love as they did
wears before. You find them in every
drawing room and at every opera or frs,
night, dyed, rouged, padded, gotten up in
short with as much care as the women they
so much admire. To such an extent has
this evil grown that many unprincipled
quacks have taken advantage of it and are
fattening on the spoilS Of the victims who
go to them for advice rather than apply TO
their family physician, niue out OF ten of
whom would recommend a trip TO some
seaside resort or a course of total abSti-
nence and confluence at home
There is something magaiicently opu-
lent about the business of these restorers of
shattered constitutions My fee is 500,
and have received amounts up to the
princely fee of $4,000 paid to me by one of
the leading manufactu ers Of this country.
Such fees as 81. 500, $500 and $1,000 are
quite common in New York. and the profits
from some Of the regulars who divide
their time between dissipation and doctor