The Ocala banner. (Ocala, Marion County, Fla.) 1883-194?, 1911-02-03
TEMPER ANCE
DEPARTMENT
THE MODERN VERDICT CONCERN
ING ALCOHOL

49,
OF alcohol as a beverage and a medi-
cine. A little over forty years ago
a Quaker applied for life insurance in
an English company. He was care
fully examined and pronounced an ex-
cellent risk, with one exception-he
was total abstiner from the use of
wine and whiskey. While the man
who habitually drank to the point of
drunkenness was not received even by
insurance companies, the one who
used it in so-called moderation was re-
garded better risk than a total abb
stainer. The highest degree of health,
it was thought, could only be enjoyed
by the moderate drinker.
Insurance companies today no long
er consider the abstainer a poor risk.
The overweight produced by the use
of alcoholic beverages is no longer re-
garded by them as an indication of
robustness and health. By carefully
kept records these companies have
ascertained that the one who is b slow
the normal body weight Insurance
companies are now seeking, not mod.
crate drinkers, but total abstainers.
For years medical men have re-
garded alcohol, in some form, as the
great standby at the sick bed No
drug appeared to do so much or The
patient. For headache, for stomache-
ache, for sleeplessness, for neveroUs-
ness, for fatigue, for irritability, in
fact, for any dissagreeable and I'M
welcome symptom, Wine, beer, whis-
ky or brandy was resorted to. / re-
member well when the wine or whis-
ky bottle was found in almost every
home, to meet the emergencies which
might arise. The presence of the bot
tie had, no doubt, much to do in
creating the many emergencies; for
the bottle was always in demand
Hospitals are Dropping AIcoh From
List of Remedies
A great change has taken place
the past few years, in the minds of
medical men, regarding the value of
alcohol as remedy in disease. in
the hospitals of the United States it's
use has been diminished one-half to
two-thirds the past ten years. Some
hospitals have abandoned it's use alto
gether. Medncal men no longer place
the same dependence on alcohol as a
remedy in sickness; some have en-
tirely dropped it from their list of
redemies.
What has brought about this
change? Scientific experiments and
studies have demonstrated that al
cohol does not do what was claimed
for it. 1t does not bring health to the
sick man. 1t produces feeling of
health in sickness, for the same rea-
son that it causes feeling of wealth
in poverty. 1t produces mental paraly-
sis, or a state of partial unconscious
ness For this reason, the poor man,
although poorer, is less conscious of
his poverty, and the sick man, even
though seriously ill, is less conscious
of his condition. Alcohol tears down
the danger signals nature wisely
erects along the pathway of trans
gression.
Alcohol is not merely narcotic
poison, a deadener, it is also an irrit-
ant, and as such does injury to every
tissue with which it is brought in con-
tact. Under its narcotic influence the
injury resulting from the irritation is
not appreciated. For instance, alcohol
is taken to relieve in dyspepsia the
unpleasant symptoms associated with
an irritable stomach. While it para
lyzes the nerve terminals of the stom-
ach, and thus affords relief from local
symptoms, it increases the irritation,
or aggravates the condition which is
responsible for the unwelcome symp-
toms. Naturally, when the narcotic
effect has worn on, the abused ana
much injured organ cries out louder
than before, and another dose is again
demanded to afford relief. In this
manner the desire for alcohol is often
created and maintained. The person
is under the delusion that he is i'm
proving, while the local condition is
constantly becoming more serious.
Even Small Doses of Alcohol Diminish
Working Power
IT is not the one who goes on an
occasional spree and then abstain who
sustains the greatest injury. The one
who resorts to alcohol in small doses
daily is being injured to a greater ex-
tent than the man who drinks to ex-
cess occasionally. 1t is the continuous
mild irritation that brings about the
organic degenerative changes in the
vessels and organs of the body.
In health the body is protected from
germs of disease by an army OF sold
lo.,onoutnc~ whit q