ABOUT ALCOHOL.

Dominion, Volume 2, Issue 586, 14 August 1909, Page 10

ABOUT ALCOHOL.

Sir—l think that Dr. Monckton ; might ■ have fairly .credited tho profession as a i whblo with a : knowledge of the difference bei twoen amy] and. ethyl alcohol.- His' '.'post i. hoc" argument about cholera'. proves,. ,110- ;■ tiling, and is' scarcely, jyorth .serious;' Qpnf eideration.'. '' I have . personally, worked 1 through{'epidemics' of plague,''typhoid.'..arid . smallpox, and ha'vo, taken a'whisky and-soda , occasionally, when I' felt, thirsty,: but I never attributed my' immunity from infection either ] to'itlio;.whisky'or tho,'so'da or to .anything .' else I atoor.drahkl:' '■/,■.'.'';..,. •;, ■■'" . ; Although, chemically, alcohol is in. a sense | a. food, -the increased.. metabolism it, give 3 ; rise to places; tho balance on tho'otberjsido. r An' animal, fed,on alcohol and water, alone, } would'die of starvation sooner than one that had water only. The medical profession 1 mostly ..■rccogniso- nowadays that 'alcohol creJ ates no-strength, although as a spur it; may. boaiivaluable.: To. .li'sft a simplprsimilo, it is, 3 not "piling' on tho coals,, but opening :, tho ; forced,draught. For instance, tho man who . presoribes'alcohol at :'the commencement of. an' attack of typhoid fever Iwith' the idea of : treating strength is doing wrong, but later, at the height, of; the disease,' alcohol, by cu r ' abling thp:. patient-to. draw'on. hi-s,o\vn re-: serves of strength,' may*sate'/life—l-am, August 9. ' , ~, ~| ;. : . ,;.,;'