Edgefield advertiser. [volume] (Edgefield, S.C.) 1836-current, 1916-05-03
An Epoch-Ma king Meeting Of
Physicians.
ELLA A. Bocle. President Now York
w. C. T. U.)

FhySlclduS.
ELLA A. Bocle. President Now York
w. C. T. U.1
The New York Academy of Med
icine is easily the most influential
organization of physicians in New
York City, and on Thursday eve
ming, April 6, the entire evening
was devoted to the subject of Alec.
hol.
The first address, illustrated BY
lantern slides, was given by DR..
Francis G. Benedict, director of the
Boston nutrition laboratory of the
Carnegie Institution. His topic as
''The Investigation of the Influence
of Alcohol on Man, with Special
Reference to Psychological Effects"
DR.. Benedict described in detail his
laboratory experiments for the dis
covery of the truth about alcohol,
and not satisfied with this, confirmed
his conclusions by the results of ex-
perience. He announced that five
out of six show the depressional ef-
| feet of alcohol on the neuro-muscu-
lar system, and decrease in muscu
lar power of from ten to fourteen
per cent. The results of his expert
mentation have been explained in a
monograph which is to be issued as
public document by the Unilt d
States Government. AS his investi-
gatious were begun without bias it
made a deep impression upon the
physicians who heard him, although
| we who are engaged in the temper
ance reform know that they simply
confirm Investigations OF similar
nature made by others.
The topic of the next paper was
''The Relation of Alcohol to Per-
sonal Efficiency" This discussion
was opened by DR.. c. Z. A. Wins
low, professor of Public Health at
Yale University, and a member of
the Public Health Commission of
New York State. His conclusions
as to the effect of alcohol were en-
phasized, because he had studied the
matter from the standpoint of two
ounces of alcohol or more a day,
quantity not usually considered ex-
cessive. He said that the use of
even that amount was responsible
for a greatly increased death rate,
and announced that the war aboli-
tion of the sale of alcohol was but
confirmation of the depressional eff
feet of alcohol on efficiency. He
called attention to the fact that a
very moderate use of alcohol in any
form had bad effect in making
people liable to pneumonia and in
rendering their recovery impossi-
BILE.
DR.. Charles R. Stockard, pro-
fessor of Public Health at Yale
University, confined his remarks to
the results Of experimentafisD
the effect of alcohol on the progeny
of fish and guinea pigs. He showed
how the exposure of the eggs of
fish to the fumes of alcohol for an
hour resulted in deformities, while
the feeding of alcohol to guinea
pigs resulted in an increase in the
four forms of abnormalities which
physicians characterize as abortions,
still born, deformities and monsters.
He showed that these results were
found when either father or mother
used alcohol, but were increased
when both father and mother used
it. As be concluded his talk he
said that while lis experiments had
not been made with the human en-
bryo, they had been made with fish
and guinea pigs, and that as physi-
clans they could draw their own
conclusions.
DR.. Bernard Sachs, another lead
ing physician accepted everything
that had been said and concluded
by saying, why do people use al
cohol? Some of them do it because
they are tired, and worn out" and
he added the warning, DO not use
wines or liquors under these circum'
stances. They always leave de-
PRESTON" and then his advice was
to use cup of hot coffee when
strong stimulant was needed.
DR.. Haven Emerson, Commits
sioner of Health of the city of New
York, was present throughout the
evening, and in his address exnress-
ed his hearty sympathy with every
thing that had been said and an
nounced his desire to change the
non,a of a division of Public Health