A SUBSTITUTE FOR STIMULANTS.

Waikato Times, Volume VIII, Issue 458, 24 April 1875, Page 2

A SUBSTITUTE FOR STIMULANTS.

" I never was the worse for liquor in my life," i?f the frequent and honestly meant declaration vith which the physician is often met in the frequent cases in which it is clear to him that polite tippling is the source of fatal disease. At the Medical Society of ltondon lately, in the cuirse of an interesting diecassion on a iiequent form of duspeps-ia and brain disease, Dr Theodore Will lip.:* observed, says the "British Medical Journal," tlut mo 4 of the^a cases occurred among people with tippling h.ihits, whose practice it w.s to take stimulants between

The result was bad in two ways. Firstly, the alcohol introduced into the stomach caused a large secretion of juice, which, having no food to act on, irritated the mucous membrane, and gave rise to flatulence, distending the stomach, and thereby; disordering the heart's movements ; hence palpitation and irregular supply of blood to the brain, with its accompanying symptoms. Secondly, the waste of gastric jucice prevented a proper amount from being forthcoming at meals ; the food was only partially dig3te4f and escaped assimilation j hence starvation^ of the blood and consequent anaemic symptoms, The treatment most successful, therefore, m these cases Was a careful combination of food with stimulants, and a reduction of the latter as much as possible. Dr Routh agreed with the author (Dr Tlu'owgood) as to the common occurrence of these cases among "women. Chronic alcoholism he noticed among matrons, and he treated it by two methocbi. The hankering after stimulants he satisfied byi ¥ harmless on€ zn the form of assafcetida or valerian ; *-Kit fyegave raw beef-juice prepared by rubbing beef through a sieve, and flavouring with a little cfclqryv Three claret glasses a day of this juice were give^, ! and it allayed the desire for spirits.