The Catholic bulletin. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1911-1995, 1918-08-03
DOMAIN OF TEMPERANCE
ALCOHOL AND MEDICINE.

Forty years ago the bill for alco-
holic liquors was one of the largest
items on the yearly budget of the lead
ing hospitals of the world. Alcohol
was regarded as a stimulant and was
relied upon as the mainstay in the
treatment of typhoid fever, pneumo-
MIA and other grave acute disorders.
1t was also considered to he invalu-
able as a remedy in the treatment of
pulmonary tuberculosis and was in al
most universal use as rejuvenant
in cases of so-called nervous eXhaus-
| ton and all forms of physical de-
preston.
The application of laboratory meth
| DDS to an investigation of remedies for
| diseases has brought about complete
revolution, and the attitude of the
leaders of the medical profession in
| relation to the use of alcohol as
remedy at the present time is precise
| ly the reverse of that maintained a
generation ago.
| Forty years ago, when the writer
| was student of the late DIR. Flint,
the teachings of the famous DR.. Todd
in relation to the use of alcohol were
almost universally followed, and most
| fever patients were given alcohol in
| doses sufficient to make healthy man
drunk, and patients were often kept
profoundly under the influence of alco-
hol for days and even weeks in sue
ceSsion.
The confidence of the general pub
lie in alcohol as a remedy has natur-
ally been based upon the value at
tached to it by members of the pro-
fession. The confidence placed in al
cohol as remedy by physicians has
been the chief support of the advo-
Gates of the use of alcohol as a bev-
erage. But the attitude of the med
ical profession has changed, and it
is high time that the general public
should be thoroughly informed re-
specting the radical change of views
which modern research has forced up
on medical men in relation to the use
of alcohol in health and disease.
Some years ago the famous Com
mittee of Fifty spent several years in
an experimental investigation on the
subject and the report of the commit
tee marshaled a great host of scien-
tific authorities of worldwide reputa-
tion-chemists, psychologists, clinici-
ans and biologists whose testimony
respecting the influence of alcohol
| upon the body in both health and
disease may be thus briefly summar-
lied:
| l. Alcohol, even if it may be toIer-
ated in small doses by healthy men
| for considerable length of time, can
not be shown to be capable of supply
ing any property of special or char
acteristic value.
| z. Alcohol is poison-a deadly
poison in large doses, and a slow, in
| sidious poison in small doses.
| 3. Alcohol in all doses diminishes
muscular vigor, nerve sensibility and
vital endurance.
4. Pure alcohol in large doses pro-
duces Immediately and in marked de-
gree retarding effect upon digestion,
| while in small doses it's effect is such
that it cannot be said to be in any re-
| spect an aid to the digestive process.
5. The seeming stimulating effect
manifested in one direction is counter
acted by an equally retarding effect
in another direction. Beer and wine
retard digestion in all appreciate do
ses, producing in this respect an eff
| feet even greater than Whiskey and
stronger liquors.
The popular faith in alcohol as a
valuable remedy in certain cases of
disease or vital emergency is so deep.
ly rooted, it may be worth while to
inquire into the facts representing a
| few of its most common medical uses.
Since Paracelsus, that prince of
| charlatans, first discovered the agent
which he named elixir vitae, alcohol
has been appealed to as a remedy at
| one time and another for almost every
human ailment. Ethylic alcohol is
certainly most remarkable agent 1t
| possesses properties which produce at
least an impression of benefit in the
most varied conditions.
Alcohol a ProtopIasmic Poison.
The teaching of Paracelsus, that al
cohol was special vital stimulant,
seems to have taken deep root in the
human mind, and this is probably the
foundation for the popular faith in it's
efficacy in almost every form of dis
ease. But Darwin showed, nearly a
generation ago, in his studies of in
sect1vorous plants, that alcohol is a
protoplasmic poison. Brosera and
other similar plants cease to exhibit
their marvellous animal-like functions
under the influence of alcohol vapor.
Sims Woodhead, the eminent Scotch
pathologist, in a memorable lecture,
clearly demonstrates that alcohol is
a poison to protoplasm, and produces
changes in muscle and nerve tissue
closely allied to those produced by the
toxin of the diphtheria bacillus and
other bacterial poisons. Oxidation is
the essential element in all metabolic
activity. 1t is, according to Wood
head, seriously interfered with nv al.