The Lakeland evening telegram. (Lakeland, Fla.) 1911-1922, 1913-01-28
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DRINK AS A MENACE
TO CIVILIZATION.
b. c. Keister, a. NJ, NJ. d.,
Roanoke, Va.

\ general awakening has at last
, dawned upon orr country. 1t IS OBJ
served as settled fact that no other
agency in the realm of civilization Is
contributing SO much TO the increase
cf disease, poverty. crime and men
tai agony as al ohol 1t KEGS the
asylums. prisons and almahouscs
filled With Victims. Not man.
woman or child in all the world, o.
hl@h or Low ancestry, bnt has fell
The sting OF t,is poison. either di-
lc,tly throueh near relatives and
loved ones. or .ndiio ,y throush
d II ffiv Us.
Medical Use 0. Alcohol DigN;nishin~
The medi u no ession has learned
much of alcohol in recent years, bit
strange to say. it has not given the
public the henelit of this knowledge.
Physicians have steadily diminished
the use of it in hospitals, sanitar-
iums and private practice. until it
has become almost obsolete as an in
ternal remedy; but still the public
has continued to judge the medical
PROFESSIONS attitude toward alcohol
by the large amount prescribed in
the past. as well as by what 1t sees
of the doctors habits at the club
and at the banquet table. Hence. so
far as the public knows. alcohol Is
still approved and prescribed by the
medical profession. 1t is time that
the public should be set straight on
this important matter, and If We
cannot agree to cast il out entirely
from our pharmacopOcia, much good
would come if the public could be in
formed that alcohol is but rarely
used as an internal medicine by up
TO- date physicians. The practical
laNman will not fail to comprehend
the meaning when we tell him that
within the last twenty-five years the
medical use of alcohol has decreased
more than scvcnty-tiNc per cent, and
az this rate il will be only a short
| time when he will see its complete
elimination from our medical dis
! pcnsatory.
Physicians Should Fight Giant Curse
While the medical profession is
doing such commcndable work in the
fight against tuberculosis. typhoid
fever, diphthera and other infec
tious diseases (destroyers OF man
kind, and winning the plaudits Of
the entire world, why should we no.
put up just as strong and determine
fight against curse that is de-
strOying about as many lives Zone In
every ten) and causing over one
hundredfold more restitution and
/ distress of heart among our people
and kindred of every land and M;
ton, saying nothing of the immoral
tendency on future generations? The
medical profession of all the leadln@
I nations of the world is taking de
tidcd stand on this great question
HE public looks to the medical pro-
fossion for instruction and guidan -
in matters pertaining to health.
Let the honorable faculties of or
medical colleges take decided ste
in excluding the use of alcohol ff.~
the hospitals with which they al"
connected, and also dcnounce it a
remedial agent in their lectures ~
the student body. These are amo'
the fountain sources from whirh
large number of our medical ro-
leagues, in years gone by, drank
the false theories on the subj '.
hence so much confusion in the nia'
ter of the careless prescribing Of
cohol as a medicine, unconscious,
making drunkards of a largc per
cent of patients. Sad and shame W.
as ii may seem, many of our med. a
brethren, some of whom were shin
! l.. u f,s4Il4