A DELUSION.

Wellington Independent, Volume XXVI, Issue 3157, 25 March 1871, Page 3

A DELUSION.

[Fbok a. Cobkespondent] One of the greatest delusions in> reference to the use of intoxicating drinks is, that they are of use to persons in a weak state of health. Thus many medical men tell their patients that they need nourishment to keep up their system, and order them to take ale and porter, as though these poisonous drinks would cure more diseases than Holloway's or Parr's life pills are said to do. So effectually have doctors palmed off this delusion on people that many otherwise sensible men and women appear completely shocked if you tell them that alcholic drinks are unnecessary in the treatment of disease. For the benefit of such persons, and with the hope that it may open their eyes, we extract the following from a recent work of Dr F. R. Lees "That porters and stouts as generally consumed contain picrotoxin and strychnine, I have no more doubt than of their containing hops, watc r , acetic acid and alcohol. When doctors prescribe porter do they know or care what elements it contain; can they allege that alcohol is the beneficial agent of the mixture 'Take a care. I was staying some yenrs ago at the house of a gentleman whom I will call Mr Sidney. He had been a teetotaller, but at that time, was drinking porter by medical advice for a liver complaint. As he ex pressed a wish to do without tho stuff, I enquired into his cise. Winelfoundhad been first ordered, taken, and failed; yet sherry contains alcohol. Pale ale was next resorted to, and failed : yet pale ale contains alcohol. Dublin porter was then prescribed, and a glassful consumed daily at dinner. Improvement followed, but not cure. If he gave it up a day or two, the old state recurred. ." Clearly," then said he, "it is better than nothing." " Clearly," retorted I, " not because of the alcohol, for you had that in the wine and ale, and get it in many other stout or porter besides the Dublin brand." " But what shall Ido ?" " Well," said I, " let me examine the porter ; I will go to the chemist with it, and you shall have it when I am done with it." He agreed, and the porter, several bottles of it, had, unknown to him, all the alcohol expelled, and was then returned to the bottles. It certainly tasted more like physic, as he said/ "It was not so palateable, but never mind, if it does good." It did good. On the third morning, Mr Sidney looked better, felt better ; there was no longer ihe old " stupidity " of which he had complained. The physic was none the worse for the elimination of the alcohol. Alcohol, then, instead of being the real medicine, was the marrer. A wtek or two later in the autumn, I wrote to the chemist, instructing him to return the porter sent for analysis, without the alcohol being distilled out ; only to nastify it a little. I next heard that Mr Sidney had a return of the old " stupidity," and wondered What had been done to porter ? Again, the porter was given with the spirit eliminated, and again the putient confessed the benefit. The test was now complete, and on being told of the facts, he became thoroughly convinced of the alcoholic imposture. I have before me now, as I write, the chemist's letter, dated the February following, informing me that the patient was so restored by the unalcoholio porter that he had taken his last dose before the new year came in." Does any one i inquire, " What did it ?" In answer, '• Probably the cocculus or strychnia, because I had myself, in a similar complaint, received sensible benefit from the last-named agent, administered in extremely £mall doses; at any rate, the medicinal agent was not the alcohol."