Alcohol: A Dangerous and Unnecessary Medicine, How and Why: What Medical Writers SayAllen, Martha Meir
Science
Alcohol: A Dangerous and Unnecessary Medicine, How and Why: What Medical Writers Say
Allen, Martha Meir
Alcohol -- Physiological effect; Temperance
OUTGROWING THE STRENGTH:--"There is sometimes debility or
weakness in rapidly growing boys and girls which is attributed
to this cause. It is popularly supposed that port wine or beer,
is the great remedy; but nothing can be worse. It is true that
gin given continuously to puppies will keep them small, but no
one would advocate the amount of spirit required in proportion
by a lad or girl to produce the same effect. If the growth could
be checked by chemicals it would be most injurious to do so.
"In the treatment of such cases fresh air by day and night is
essential; cold sponging, followed by friction with a rough
towel, and exercise are desirable."
PNEUMONIA.
Dr. Julius Poheman says in _Medical News_:--
"The effect of alcohol upon nearly all the organs of the body
has been carefully investigated. But, strange to say, literature
contains only a few straggling hints upon the action of alcohol
on the pulmonary tissue. It has long been known that the abuse
of alcohol is a predisposing cause of death when the drinker is
attacked with pneumonia. No experimental evidence has been
published of the action of alcohol in producing pathological
conditions in the lungs. In order to determine this action, a
series of experiments was made upon dogs in the winters of
1890-1891 and 1892-1893. The dogs were a mixed lot of mongrels
gathered in by the city dog catchers. They varied in weight from
fifteen to twenty-five pounds, and were apparently in good
health. In all, thirty animals were experimented on.
"The experiments were performed as follows:--A carefully
etherized animal had injected into his trachea just below the
larynx a quantity of commercial alcohol varying from one dram to
one ounce in amount. The effects of equal amounts of alcohol
upon animals of the same weight varies greatly. Two dogs,
weighing twenty-five pounds each, were injected with two drams
of alcohol. One died in one hour, and the other in six hours
after the injection. Four other dogs, two weighing twenty-four
pounds each, another eighteen pounds, and the fourth fifteen
pounds, were all injected with the same amount, two drams. All
four survived, and were as well as usual in four weeks. Another
dog of eighteen pounds died five minutes after an injection of
two drams, while another of fifteen pounds took one ounce and
recovered.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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