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
SUNSTROKE:--"There has lately been a correspondence in the
_Morning Post_ on the subject of 'Sunstroke and Alcohol.' We
quite agree with the statement that 'nothing predisposes people
to sunstroke so much as this pernicious habit of taking
stimulants (so-called) during the hot weather.' As far as this
country is concerned, nearly every case of sunstroke might be
more appropriately designated 'beerstroke.' One effect of
alcohol is to paralyze the heat-regulating mechanism; the blood
becomes overloaded with waste material, and the narcotism, and
vasomotor paralysis, produced by the alcohol, is added to that
produced by the heat. Abstainers, other things being equal, can
always endure extremes of temperature better than consumers of
alcohol."--_Medical Pioneer_, England.
"During the month of January, 1896, there occurred over three
hundred deaths from sunstroke in Australia. When called upon to
offer suggestions relative to its prevention, the medical board
promptly informed the Colonial government that, of all the
predisposing causes, none were so potent as indulgence in
intoxicating liquors, and in its treatment nothing seemed to
have a more disastrous effect than the administration of
alcoholic stimulants."--_Medical News._
The _Bulletin of the A. M. T. A._ for August, 1896, contained the
following:--
"Recently a leading medical man, a teacher in a college, warned
his student audience against the anti-alcoholic theories urged
by extremists and persons whose zeal was greater than their
intelligence. He affirmed positively that the value of alcohol
was well known in medicine, and established by long years of
experience.
"Not long afterward a man was brought into his office in a state
of collapse from sunstroke, and this physician and teacher
ordered large quantities of brandy to be administered; the
patient died soon after."
Dr. T. D. Crothers tells of a case where alcohol was administered to a
child for partial sunstroke, and says, "there were many reasons for
believing that the profound poisoning from alcohol gave a permanent bias
and tendency that developed into inebriety later."
"When a person falls with sunstroke (or heatstroke) he should at
once be carried to a cool, shady place. His clothing should be
removed, and cold applications made to the head, and over the
whole body. Pieces of ice may be packed around the head, or cold
water may be poured upon the body. Cold enema may also be
employed. In case the face is pale, hot applications should be
made to the head and over the heart and the body should be
rubbed vigorously."--DR. J. H. KELLOGG.
TYPHOID FEVER.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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