ALCOHOLOGY.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIV, Issue 69, 12 September 1911, Page 7

ALCOHOLOGY.

I WHEN NOT TO USE ALCOHOL. j (Published by arrangement.) ; Of course every one savs that alcoholic iliquors ought not to be used when a :man has lind enough, as they say; but it is good to hear a medical authority isay when not to use alcohol. Dr. Sims iWoodhead, Professor of Pathology in 'Cambridge University, gives the following list of conditions in which it should not be used:— : (1') Persons who have any family history of drunkenness, insanity, or nervous disease; \2) 'those who have used alcohol to excess in childhood or youth; (3) those who are nervously irritable or are badly nourish^); (4) those who suffer from injuries to the brain, gross disease of the braiii, :or sunstroke; (5) those' who ,suffer fi'om great bodily weakness, particularly (luring convalescence from exhausting diseases; (fi) those who are engaged, in .exciting or. exhausting employment', in bad air and surroundings, in workshops or mines; (7) those who are solitary or lonely and require amusement; (8). those' who have little selfcontrol, either''liereditary or acquired; (9) those Svh'o" buffer from brain weakness, the reßult of senile degeneration; (10) those who suffer from organic or functional disseises of the stomach, liver, kidney, or Heart;' (.11) it should never be. gi,vert tp : young : children, or those in the adolescent' stige.

This 1 list is practically prohibitive of all use' of'alcdiioj'iivWditine; it is also to be remembered that the above is for doctors whb'dpUometimes, and should always, piresiribe 1 akoliol in strictly medicinal doses. . flow much more careful home-dbctorlrrg Wiwl' self-doctoring should then be' t t,6 l ;relr^i l n from, advising, or using, the. lit.tle .'(Trop 1 of whisky to which so many people', turn when not feeling well. The. liest. proof of the uselessness of alcohol aB a medicine is the London Temperance Hospital. This institution was established'to test the question, "Is alcohol a safe and necessary drug?" The decision 'after 38 years' trial is decisive, and it is against alcohol. The death rate is' rather below the average, the recoveries (juife equal, and the risks of leading, patients into bad habits are totally avoided. . The above list of prohibitions in the use of alcohol is' for the hospital or sick-room; to this'should be added other occasions when alcohol should not be used. For instance, it should not be used when' steadiness of hand is demanded, or .quickness and accuracy of judgment or decision is required. Here is a proof.. Swedish Lieutenant Bengt Boy, with, the"consent of the military authorities, tsed some soldiers. He took it squad' at target practice, first without alcohol' then with an ordinary allowance of'.'ti&or of wine, but all under official siiii(i(;yi^ion. I,l '|\ 7 ithout exception they did tli'e' ,wojk without the wine,/yet Kft | tne|; wliffe they thought they ~W?ri flotog ''Mtt .with it—the t'olif 1 ffi^' : l!i]e. : Here then is another. 1 W 'fee, added to the eleven;'^rthrtHiqW l '''ib'c(ve given: "No soldijsf siltyft'cf it interferes with t 'stlc/ildme'i;4; Si'his arip." ' o'i{(i :l of persons who should' ifct' Wse'*'it'l'e«liol.' Dr. AschafTenburg tried il ! S ( effects on printers (compositors),' ' tie' got four men to offer fbrJ the test, and he gave them a They were not teetotallers, ode 'was known to drink to excts's Wasl&Mty; 'the other three were : liquor as an article'. of (lj'et. 'On. £li'e'first and third days '.of" tlifeJtWHi ,s'?s* hjid no alcohol, on the they had a small' ,<i|iAiVt'iSy of alcohol. The full .pSttiityHiVmiijj? be seen, in "Alcohol and tfue Hiijn'An l?q<ly,'" by. Horsley and Sturjfe, 1 jl 1 iyjlliitifbttokyrhich may be had at various reviewing the results; 'says: "The impairment was onlv absent in one experiment oltt 6'f efg}i,ir.' It amounted in the other experiment's \6' between 1(0.6 per cent. ana ,! : jent.,. upon an average 15.2' tier epilt. 'of ,th'e output which might lAv(\' ' been, 'eipected without fatigue 'and 'iipisjdf practice." From this we lea'rn thait, ,Dr. Sims Woodhead's '.We'; Jjligjit add No. 12., "Soldiers should ii'q| 5 dri,Jtk," and No. 13., "Printers' shbmd"ltbt' 'drink." If we were to' 'pursue the study furtlier ' wW'^hlhilil'ftrt'tl many more who shojild avp { id filertljol!, the soldiers, the printers tooJJhqftgUt. that they were doing better rt'orlc" wi'tli the drink, showing the truth of the text, "Wine is a mocker," yr.. fcij." jmt,,it, ,iii Sir Victor the eohstant delusion which occurs as a result of live, most narcotic drugs." '''