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
PAIN AFTER FOOD:--"This may occur in acute or chronic gastric
catarrh, or in a neuralgic or oversensitive condition of the
stomach, or in ulcer or cancer of that organ. In all these it
comes on soon after food has been swallowed; but, if occurring a
long time after a meal, it is probably due to atonic dyspepsia.
Alcohol will undoubtedly sometimes relieve this kind of pain by
deadening the nerves of the stomach so that the pain is not
felt so much; but this effect soon passes off, and if the cause
of the malady is not removed by other means, increasing
quantities of alcohol will be required to give relief. Many
cases of drink-craving have originated in this way. Medical aid
will generally be required. A small mustard poultice over the
pit of the stomach is often useful, especially in inflammatory
cases, or any other outward application of heat. Food should be
fluid, or semi-fluid, and digestible. Ginger tea, or peppermint
water, may serve to disperse gas."
POISON, ANIMAL.
The following by Dr. Chas. H. Shepard, of Brooklyn, who introduced the
Turkish bath into America, is taken from the _Journal of the A. M. A._,
for Nov. 13, 1897:--
"Animal poison is by no means uncommon, and so quick and
mysterious is its action that a prompt remedy is a vital
necessity. There is good reason to believe that the numerous
remedies that have been recommended from earliest times as
antidotes for animal poison are worthless, as they have not the
properties commonly ascribed to them. The paucity of remedies is
so great that alcohol is the one which comes most quickly to the
mind of those who have been taught in the traditions of the
past, and who are not fully aware of its action on the human
system. We shall endeavor to show that the action of alcohol is
not helpful, but on the contrary is really detrimental; and also
that there is a better way out of the difficulty.
"If we get a splinter in the body, vital energy is aroused to
get rid of the offending substance, inflammation is set up, and
sloughing goes on until the splinter is voided. If the splinter
is covered with acrid material, the same process is intensified,
and nature endeavors to eliminate the offending substance
through the natural excretions. Upon the peculiarity of the
material depends the direction of this elimination.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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