Evening star., 1927-05-17

| "From the standpoint of personal
| hygiene and public health, legislation
has never been passed that has such
| possibilities for good as has the pro
| hibition amendment" adding that the
Governments provision which permits
a physician to write 100 pint whisky
prescriptions a quarter and to obtain
| II pints Of whisky and gallons Of
alcohol a year for office use was too
liberal.
Previous to the time of the Vol
stead act, honest physicians In gen
eral practice never prescribed 100 pints
OF whisky in three months / have
practiced medicine for many years.
and I have never prescribed whisky
except to patient with delirium
tremens. in my work. since prohibi
tion has been in force"
DIR. Harvey w. Wiley, who for
years was president of the United
States Pharmacopoeial Convention and
chief chemist OF the Department Of
Agriculture. swore before the commit
tee on Judiciary, House of Representa-
tives:
That the effect Of alcohol on the
human animal is always toxic, no
matter how small the amount, nor
what its degree of dilution."
DIR. w. a. Evans. professor OF
pathology. University of Illinois Med
ical School. also swore before the same
committee:
".AI alcoholic beverages are drugs.
In fact, the word Intoxication' is de
rived from toxin another name for
poison"
DIR. Harry T. Kenney. president of
the State Medical Association of
South Dakota, addressing the con-
vention in 1921, said:
I'm regard To writing liquor pre-
scriptionS, this has done more to be.
little the profession than anything
that has been done in the last decade"
DR., Hubert Work, formerly presi-
dent OF the American Medical So
ciety, now Secretary of the United
States Department of the Interior, an
expert therefore OH interiors" refer
red to the iquor-dispensing doctors as
educated criminals" adding: These
physicians are tolerated by the public
because the integrity, efficiency and
self-abnegation of a majority of medl-
cal men is so great that these dere-
liCtS almost escape notice. | some
times fear that we regard ourselves as
dictatorS in medical matters, when in
reality we merely meet the demands
of the public. We should remember
that numerically we are as one in SDJ
among the people. and that our calling
has already granted many privileges
which are being betrayed
DR.. Howard a. Kelley of the Johns
Hopkins University, one Of the mos
eminent medical authorities in Amer.
ica, says:
II do not myself believe that the
medical profession is conscious of any
pressing need of alcohol, for ii is not
known as a remedy or an important or
necessary adjuvant in any disease
The ailment where it's use has been
generally asserted TO be beneficial is
diabetes in an advanced stage, and
here insulin has come within a few
months to supplant it. On the other
hand. L take it that even though we
were to concede the occasional need of
alcohol. its possible usefulness is far
outweighed by the enormous harm
done by a horde of doctors, who are
utterly uncomfortable, prescribing in
discriminatory to all comers. Myriads
of drunkards and narcotic victims
have been created in the past by medi-
cal prescriptions. With the advent of
prohibition we have discovered that
many medical men have ideals not one
whit above a bartender; witness the
tions tor alcohol daily until their
blanks run out. The indiscriminate
prescribing of alcohol was the disgrace
of the generation out OF which came
given, as it was. almost invariably
as placebo.
DIR. Reid Hunt. Harvard Medical
School: Formerly regarded as
stimulant, alcohol is now classed as
depressant along with ether and
chloroform. This change has resulted
from improved methods of study and
from new points in physiology and
pharmacOlOgy. The margin between
the amount of alcohol necessary 10
produce deep intoxication and that
sufficient to cause death is small
The Presbyterian Hospital of Cni-
cago. which cares for Il 900 patients
a year, reports that it has not issued
a bottle of whisky since the prohibi.
ton law went into effect. Other hos.
pitals. such as the General Hospitais
of Fresno Calf. report that practi-
cally their surgeons and doctors have
ceased to call for whisky and the hos
pitals keep 1t in stock only as a pre-
caution against charges of neglect.
DR.. Andrew Clarke of England, or.-
of the ablest physicians of Euroo~
says Alcohol is poison, and is
classed as such with strychnine; SO if
arsenic and also opium. 1t ranks witt,
these agents
Another noted London physician
says, Alcohol has a similar effect on
the heart to that of typhoid fever
Another famous German. Or. Kocher,
says, I'm fighting against alcohol we
are battling against many other
diseases"
DIR. Charles II. Mayo, the most noted
surgeon in the United States, said
With the present progress
Of medicine. and the better knowledge
Of stimulants and tonics. alcohol has
lost its former position and is no
longer OF Importance or a necessity.
and its future use will be in the arts
and sciences
sCopyrishi. 1oa7. hy Paul v. collinAl a