The Use and Abuse of Alcohol as a Medicine.

White Ribbon, Volume 2, Issue 23, 1 May 1897, Page 1

The Use and Abuse of Alcohol as a Medicine.

By Dr W. A. Chappie, Wellington. Alcohol maybe a beverage to anyone —it is only a medicine to the total abstainer. Whoever uses alcohol regularly in health forfeits all claim upon its medicinal v irtues in disease. To the drinker, alcohol first loses its virtues as a stimulant before it developes its vices as a poison. If one would get the good of alcohol in diseases, he must abstain from its use in health. As well prescribe exercise to a postman, or fresh air to a shepherd, as an alcoholic stimulant to a wine-drinker. Further, if one would have the good of alcohol as a stimulant in old age, he must have abstained from its use through life. To the constant drinker alcohol offers nothing but—first, a “ fool’s paradise, second, an irresistible craving, and third, an early death. To the total abstainer it offers a medicine in time of disease and in senile decay. As alcohol possesses the power of producing evanescent sensations of pleasure and exhilaration followed by depression, and also possesses the power of inducing ultimately an irresistible craving for itself, and further, as its use in many diseased conditions is distinctly injurious, its prescription should be strictly confined to medical men. Alcohol is a diffusible stimulo-sedative, useful as a medicine in certain diseased

conditions ; but as its prescription should be restricted to those qualified to diagnose the condition where a stimulant, a sedative, or a stomachic tonic is indicated, some less potent and dangerous substitute should be used in those simple cases w’here medical advice is not sought. The administration of spirits and wine to boys and young people for every little trifle and for absurd excuses is a perilous practice, and is often the origin of a fatal habit. If alcohol must be given in acute illness it should be disguised as such in liquid food, to avoid the inception of dangerous associations. The common ailments in which alcohol is appropriately prescribed, but in which other equally effective remedies may be used, are:—(i) Fainting (not due to loss of blood); (2) loss of appetite ; (3) pain; (4) debility These are frequent abnormal conditions in which a stimulant may be appropriately prescribed and frequently used, but with a crave-begetting drug like alcohol, which has the power to enslave, degrade, ruin, and destroy human nctims to the third and fourth gene.atioo, it is the bounden duty of everybody to seek a remedy free from these dangers, if it can be found-and who will say it cannot ? In fainting, a small cup of hot, strong coffee, to which from half to one teaspoonful of sal volatile has been added, is a valuable stimulant and restorative.

or the same dose of sal-volatile in hot or cold water, may be used. These possess all the stimulating and restorative properties of alcohol in any of its forms, and may be used when this drug is indicated. As a stomachic in loss of appetite, dyspepsia, colic, and flatulence, no amount of stout or ale could equal in efficiency such valuable remedies as the syrup of orange and quinine, or Eastern’s syrup, or the compound tincture of cinchona, or maltine made by the M M. Co., any or all of which can be secured from a chemist as cheaply as alcohol, ard with the doses wTitten on the labels. In acute pain, the admirable preparation well known as chlorodyne, in every way eclipses alcohol as a remedy, and antipyrin, in five-grain tablets, is to be had from any chemist, and for the relief of pain is safe, simple, and effectual beyond the claims of alcohol. In debility and low vitality, alcohol is mostly a delusion and a snare, and cannot for a moment be compared with Fellowe’s syrup, cod liver oil, Kel. per’s extract of malt and oil, maltine, and quinine and iron in doses of one grain of quinine and ten drops of tincture of steel. There are many conditions in which alcohol is given indiscriminately, and with great harm and danger to the sufferers. In bleeding it is always wTong and fatal to give spirits. Alcohol increases the circulation and thereby promotes hxmorrhage.

It is a grave oftence against good practice to give spirits in child-bed, because of this danger, and it should never be given under any circumstances by nurr* or friend without a doctor’s specific order as to time and quantity. It ib a great mistake to give spirits indiscriminately in case of accident. There may be a severed vessel concealed by the clothing or an internal rupture, from which the bleeding may be gently accelerated by the administration of alcohol or any stimulant. Fainting or collan«e die tc loss of blood should not be treated by any stimulant until the source of the blood has been securely stopped. Fits and sudden attacks of unconsciousness should not be attacked with spirits. It is much better not to do anything at all than to fly to the brandy bottle. Alcohol lowers the temperature by diminishing oxidation, and by dilating the surface circulation, thereby allowing a radiation of the body beat. It is wrong, therefore, to give spirits at times of great cold. The hotly heat should be maintained by wraps, friction, hot bottles, exercise, *nd hot coflee, hot soups, and hot food. Spirits produce a feeling of warmth by increasing the gastric and the cutaneous circulation, hut the temperaiure is depressed, and the cold intensified by this action. Many people take alcohol at night for the purpose of inducing sleep. Alcohol is distinctly unsuitable tor such a purpose, apart from the crave-beget-ting danger Temporary congestion and stimulation of the brain precedes the soporific effect of alcohol, which further disturbs the normal relations of one brain centre to another. These conditions are antagonistic to normal sleep. Except under medical advice, alcohol should not bo used to induce sleep. A warm bath at bedtime, or immersion of the feet and legs in hot water, are effective soporifics. No drug should be used except under medic a directions. That alcohol acts as a disinfectant and protects from infectious disease, is c'aimed by some as an excuse for its use Spirit drinkers «. an claim no such im munity, on the contrary, constani drinking diminishes tissue vitality, an<! tisue resistance to infection. Th< drinker not only becomes more prone to infectious disease but ha: le*s power to overcome it whei •ace attacked. If one knowingb has come, or must come, in contac with infection, fresh air, and sunlight and moderate exercise, after a bowl o strong soup or beef tea, or a heart]

meal of easy assimilable food, by building up the tissue vitality, and tissue resistance, can claim a potent influence in overcoming infection; alcohol can claim none. With a two-ounce bottle of sal volatile, a half-ounce bottle of chlorodyoe, and a small bottle of five-grain tablets of antpyrin, alcohol may be safHy and profitably dispensed w r ith in most common ailments suggesting its use and cases of emergency requiring “ first aid." 'lt should be distinctly under* stood that some of the medicines suggested in the preceding paper are very powerful, and should not be used without medical advice.] —Medual Pumttr.