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
"The remark of Holmes years ago that it would be better for the
patients, but worse for the fish, if most of the drugs were
thrown into the sea, is probably even more true to-day. The vast
majority of these drugs have not the slightest excuse for
existence."
Dr. T. D. Crothers, in his valuable book upon Morphinism and other drug
addictions, reports a case of murder where it was shown that the
assailant was delirious from large doses of quinine. He says assaults
are often clearly traced to the drug taking of the assailant. A surgeon
from a New York hospital, in speaking of drug habits before an audience
at Chautauqua, New York, said that some of the ovarian difficulties
which demand operations are the result of over-dosing with quinine.
There are people who keep morphine in the house all the time lest some
little pain or ache should find them unprepared.
Dr. Crothers, who has perhaps made more of a study of the evil results
of drug taking than any other man in America, says of this:--
"Morphine as a common remedy, taken for pains and aches, may
suddenly develop into an incurable craze for its continuous use.
* * * The early relief which morphine brings to the sufferer is
often the beginning of an unknown journey ending in disease and
death."
Cases are on record where morphine given to mothers soon after the birth
of children to allay pain, has resulted in the death of the infant, the
morphine having poisoned the milk.
Cocaine is possibly the most insidious of all drugs yet known. Few of
those who become enslaved to it ever are able to lay it aside. It leads
to hallucinations of sight and hearing. Many persons have become
enslaved to cocaine unwittingly through its use in catarrh snuffs,
asthma "cures," and other proprietary preparations, the composition of
which was secret. Some states now have strict laws regulating the sale
of this dangerous drug.
It is not only the enslaving drugs which are injurious to the body, but
even such apparently simple agents as liver pills and pills for the
relief of constipation may do more harm than good if resorted to
frequently. Some of the ingredients used in the pills for the relief of
constipation are said to be injurious to the liver.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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