PROGRESS IN TEMPERANCE.

Te Aroha News, Volume XXVI, Issue 43108, 22 June 1907, Page 1

PROGRESS IN TEMPERANCE.

CHANGED VIEWS ON ALCOHOL. r By Professor G. Sims Woodhead in the “ C/hristiau World ” Jubilee Number.

(Continued from last issue) Dr.Dresohfdd, in his article on enteric fever, gives the teaching of to-day. He-begins at the other end of the gamut, as it were :—“ Milk is an ex- : cellent food in enteric fever; it is as a rule well borne, and should be given throughout the whole course of the illness. Two or three pints m the twentyfour hours is a sufficient quantity.” ; Sir Yictor Horsley dotted the “ i’s ” and crossed the “ t’s ” of. this statement when he set forth the statistics concerning the relative amounts of alcohol and milk used in the London ,/ hospitals, where alcohol has fallen to a fraction of its former importance, mill: rising in a corresponding degree... , ~ ; Again, Dresohfeld now writes : “ As a beverage give pure water (which has been especially recommended in, very large quantities by recent writers) ,or bar-ley-water, or toast and water, or water containing the wljute of raw egg strained through a doth.” Delirium tremens and alcohol.

Almost innumerable examples of this change of treatment might be given. But it is unnecessary to say there than that in delirium tremens, inflammation of the lungs, and; consumption, three diseases in which fifty years ago alcohol may be said to have been asheet anchor alcohol is now rarely given, apd then only to meet some special and definite emergency. Of one of these conditions, delirium, Dr. Eolleston says: “ It has been suggested that a pint of bitter beer or porter may be the best hypnotic in delirium tremens. This may be the case, but as the use of aloohol" fends to keep up the drink crave, the use of it is avoided if possible. At one time a doctor would as soon have thought of treating a fractured limb without applying a splint as of treating delirium tremens without alcohol. Now such treatment is the exception —certainlv not the rule.”

The great point gained is that medical men are no longer content to accept alcohol as a drug on any terms other than those on which they would accept any other remedy in the Pharmacopoeia. Having learned something of the injurious effects of ; alcohol on the tissues of the old and of the young —i.e,, during the period of . development, growth and degeneration—they have turned their attention to the tissues already damaged by the products of disease, with the result that they have found that in disease, alcohol when give*', comes in as an additional dam - aging factor. From this point many, going a step further, have become sceptical as to any g tod effects said to be produced by alcohol when taken into a healthy body. Important scientific matter. The study of thealcohol question has thus become one of vast scientific.importance. Nat- ■ urally there are still great diversities of opinion as to the quantities of alcohol that can be raken with impunity under different conditions, but the physician of fifty years., ago. . would be lost ip amazement at the attitude of the profession of—-, he present day towards alcolmh No one now claims any great ; v: lue of alcohol as a drug cx- yd /ap when given in small qir n. ■under definite con :; &tibns:y ; , -

tSPo be continued)