ALCOHOL AND DIPHTHERIA.

Thames Star, Volume VIII, Issue 2848, 1 April 1878, Page 2

ALCOHOL AND DIPHTHERIA.

It is really too bad of Dt JR. N. Chap. man, of Brooklyn, New York (say the San Francisco Post) to come out with a counterblast to the Murphy missionaries and temperance lectures generally. He has demonstrated that alcohol, administered in the form of wL:sky, is a gpeoifie for diphtheria. By his treatment the per* centage of deaths has been irdueea to less than one in fifty, while statistic! show that death results in 87 cases oat of 100 under the usual practice. " Alcohol does. not act as a stimulant, nor induce any of its ordinary effects. Enough may, be i given .to cause profound intoxication, in health, and yet there exists/-fto tiga of excitement or odour in the Wreath." Quinia is prescribed after the alcohol baa done its work. Dr Chapman sustains his position by citing numerous easel in which this treatment was successful. He states that in his long experience, he only knew of one case where a drunkard had diphtheria. He generally gini the alcohol in the form of whisky, and, to be effectual, it must be given promptly at the outset, or otherwise its potency will be lessened, perhaps lost altogether. Details may be found in the Scientific American. This ia cheering news for topers, and we should not be surprised if an invitation to drink were, in future couched in these words: " Let us neutralise the diphtheritic poison." Alcohol has long been known as an infallible antidote to worms, and now that its salutary influence has extended from, the intestines to the throat, the effect upon the health-seeking portion of the community will be proportionately great. Precaution : against diphtheria will be taken generally. The whisky should be unadulterated to be of value.