Total for other medicines, $9,772.00 $7,815.00 $9,162.00 $7,018.00 Number of patients, 5,342 5,429 5,709 5,531 Cost of alcohol per patient, $0.26 $0.19 $0.23 $0.09 Cost of medicine per patient, 1.88 1.43 1.60 1.26 1906 1907 Ale and beer, $192.00 $203.00 Wines and liquors, 546.00 610.00 --------- --------- Total for alcoholic drinks, $738.00 $813.00 Total for other medicines, $5,981.00 $5,492.00 Number of patients, 5,513 5,966 Cost of alcohol per patient, $0.13 $0.13 Cost of medicine per patient, 1.00 0.92 Dr. Cabot says:-- "Since there has been no fall in the price of stimulants or medicine, the diminished expenditure corresponds to a diminution in the number of doses of medicine and stimulants, and indicates a rapid and striking change of view among the members of the staff of the hospital, especially in the past five years, when it has become generally known that alcohol is not a stimulant but a narcotic and that drugs can cure only about half a dozen of the diseases against which we are contending. "There has been during this period no increase in the proportion of surgical cases among the whole number treated, so that the decreased use of medicines and alcoholic beverages has not resulted from an increased resort to surgical remedies. On the other hand, there has been a great increase in the utilization of baths (hydrotherapeutics), of massage, of mechanical treatment and of psychical treatment, all of which accounts no doubt for part of the falling off in the use of alcohol and drugs." CHAPTER V. THE EFFECTS OF ALCOHOL UPON THE HUMAN BODY. The body is made up mainly of cells, fibres and fluids. The cell is the most important structure in the living body. Life resides in the cell, and every animal may be considered a mass of cells, each of which is alive, and each of which has its own work to accomplish in the building up of the body. The matter which forms the mass of a cell is called protoplasm, or bioplasm. It resembles somewhat the white of a raw egg, which is almost pure albumen. Cells make up the body, and do its work. Some are employed to construct the skeleton, others are used to form the organs which move the body; liver-cells secrete bile, and the cells in the kidneys separate poisonous matters from the blood in order that they may be expelled from the system.