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
sent for it, but the dear woman gasped out faintly, 'I can die,
but I can't touch brandy.' She is alive and flourishing to-day.
Another national officer absolutely refused whisky for a violent
attack of a very different character, the physician telling her
that she could not live through the night without it; but she is
still an active worker--a living witness that doctors are not
infallible. Instances like these have multiplied by hundreds and
thousands in our Woman's Christian Unions and Bands of Hope.
'No, mamma I can't touch liquor; I've signed the pledge,' is a
protest 'familiar as household words.' Meanwhile, I beg you to
contemplate something else that has happened. Behold, our own
beloved beverage itself,
'Sparkling and bright,
In its liquid light,'
has come grandly to our rescue in this crusade against alcohol
in the sick room. Water has become a favorite--nay, even a
fashionable--medicine! The most conservative physicians freely
prescribe it in the very cases where some form of alcohol was
the specific so long. To be sure, they give it hot, but we do
not object to that, since 'water hot ne'er made a sot,' and it
cures dyspepsia and all forms of indigestion as whisky never
did, but only made believe to; while its external use as a
fomentation is banishing alcohol even for old folks' 'rheumatiz'
where, as a remedy, it would be likely to make its final stand.
"Farewell, thou cloven-foot, Alcohol! Thou canst no longer hide
away in the home-like old camphor bottle, paregoric bottle,
peppermint bottle or Jamaica-ginger bottle; and a tender
good-by, Mrs. Winslow's Soothing Syrup, for be it known to you
that the wonderful discovery stumbled over for six thousand
years has in our day been made, namely, that hot water will
soothe the baby's stomach-aches and the grown people's pains,
and drive out a cold when all else fails. _Jubilate!_ Clear out
the cupboard and top shelf of the closet now that the sideboard
has gone. Let great Nature have a glance to 'mother up' humanity
with the medicine, as well as the beverage, brewed in Heaven."
THE RED CROSS HOSPITAL.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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