Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1905-02-13
w. G. T. u. COLUMN.
IS ALCOHOL USEFUL AS A MEDICNEf

Inc use or alcohol as medicine 10
one of the most formidable hindrances
to the advancement OF the temper
ance cause. II the public mind could
only be disabused of the old notion
that alcohol is beneficial to health
and indispensable as medicine, there
would be vastly less opposition TO
laws for the abolition OF the liquor
traffic. The medical profession Is
largely responsible for the delusion
so persistently held by millions thai
alcohol is good for man, and that lts
abuse only is to be condemned. In
days long gone by the alchemists
were endeavoring to find panacea
for all the ills to which flesh is heir;
when by the process of distillation
spirits of wine, or alcohol was pro-
duced, it was proclaimed to the world
with great JOY that the long looked
for cure-all had been discovered.
The medical men of the age intro
duced it to their patients, and were
lavish in their praises of its curative
powers. Being a medicine which
very rapidly creates a liking for
itself, the demand for it became
great and as time advanced people
began prescribing it for themselves,
until its use in various forms became
almost general
If the medical profession is
responsible for the wide spread
belief that alcoholics are of service to
mankind both as food and medicine
it should not be forgotten that it is to
members of the same profession the
world is indebted for the correction
of these errors. All down through
the centuries since alcohol was dis
covered there have been physicians
who doubted and opposed it's claims
to merit. Tt remained for the medi-
cal science of the latter half of the
nineteenth century to clearly demon
strate with nicely adjusted chemical
apparatus and appliances the wisdom
of those doubts.
Leading medical scientists of Amer
lea, England, and Continental Europe
have for the last twenty or thirty
years been making the drug, alcohol,
special study. The most careful
and elaborate experiments have been
made as to it's heat producing quail
ties, it's strength giving properties,
and it's effect upon the different
organs of the body. Dogs were
exposed in a frosty atmosphere, one
with alcohol in his blood, the other
without. The one with alcohol in him
would die from the cold, the other
would be as well as usual. With men
tiny thermometer under the tongue
gave normal temperature of SO
degrees Fahrenheit. Shortly after
alcohol was swallowed the tempera :
ture would increase degree or more,
but soon it would fall again, and keep
falling until it would go degree OF
more below normal, showing that
after the first flush from the drink il
over a man is colder than before he
| took it. Thus it was proved clearly
that the old idea that alcohol warns
the body is a delusion, and exac tly
the reverse of the facts of the case
This finding of science is now accepted
by all of the medical fraternity who
keep up with the age. In proof O
this remember that where brandy il
now used in fever it is to reduce tint
temperature; and when a man Ii
found In summer upon the street, ant
it is doubtful whether the case is ont
of apoplexy or solar alcoholism, it
settled by the little thermomete
being placed under the tongue to fine
the heat of the body.
Why is it so difficult to remov'
these decisions from the minds
people in general? Because of tn
nature of alcohol. 1t is a narcoti
and a nerve deadener. This powe
to deaden the nerves of sensation
accounts largely for the hold thi
drug has upon the people. 1t
suicidal to resort to drugs whio
deaden sensation. The Creator de
signed that when our nerves cry out
"Fatigued," we should rest; whe
they say, Hungry" we should eat
By pouring into the stomach a drui
which causes person to go on work
ing when worn out, or to neglect foo
when the engine runs low for fue
life is shortened. Thus the alcUht
which seems to strengthen, while
only dulls fatigue, is a dangerou
enemy, mistakenly chung to as
friend.
No Strength in Stimulants.
The idea that alcohol or any othe