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
"Quinine is a most fatal drug. Of course, it is the orthodox
treatment for malarial conditions, but quinine never did nor
never can cure malaria or any other disease. The action brought
about by its use is simply to benumb the nervous activity and
interfere with the natural action of the system to throw off the
poison, which is expressed by the chill. Because of this
interference with the manifestation or symptom of the disease,
many imagine that the disease is being cured, but there never
was a greater mistake. A drug disease is added to the original
disease. This is shown by the invariable depression that follows
the administration of the drug, and the length of time required
to recuperate, which imperils restoration, and sometimes hastens
the final results. This is ordinarily met by the use of what are
called stimulants, that is, more drugs, and the last state is
worst than the first; the poor patient is thus made the victim
of a triple wrong, which only a most vigorous constitution can
pass through and live, and even then he is crippled and made
more liable to whatever disease may come along ever afterward.
"Disease is not entity to be killed by a shot from a
professional gun, but a condition, an effort of outraged nature
to free itself from an incumbrance, and should be aided rather
than hindered by the administration of any nerve irritant. There
never will come a time when the laws of health can be evaded.
Nor is there any vicarious atonement. The full penalty of
disobedience will invariably be exacted. The hunt for a panacea
is as sure to be disappointing in the future as it has been in
the past."
A writer in the _Brooklyn Citizen_ says:--
"Few people are aware of the extent of a peculiar kind of
dissipation known as ginger-drinking. The article used is the
essence of ginger, such as is put up in the several proprietary
preparations known to the trade, or the alcohol extract
ordinarily sold over the druggist's counter. Having once
acquired a liking for it, the victim becomes as much a slave to
his appetite as the opium eater or the votary of cocaine. In its
effect it is much the most injurious of all such practices, for
in the course of time it destroys the coating of the stomach,
and dooms its victim to a slow and agonizing death.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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