Chapter XVII: Miscellaneous (1)

ALCOHOL BATHS:--The action of alcohol upon the surface of the body is that of a refrigerant. Alcohol baths for debility, weakness, and states of exhaustion are opposed by non-alcoholic physicians. The old custom of bathing a new-born babe with whisky was simply a superstition, and a dangerous one, because the infant should not have a refrigerant applied to its body so soon after leaving the warm nest where it had been sheltered so long. Warm water is the proper liquid for a baby's bath until it becomes hardy. There is nothing of strength imparted by an alcohol rub; the 'rub' is good, but vinegar, or water, or olive oil can be used according to what is desired. Alcohol is not necessary internally nor externally. Its proper use is for mechanical purposes and to give light and heat.

WILHELMINA LEMONADE:--Take four or five rough-skinned oranges (according to size) and two pounds of sugar, in big lumps. After having cleaned the oranges, rub the sugar with them, till the oranges are quite white--the sugar yellow. Place the sugar in a big earthernware pan or jar, and add three pints of _cold_ water. Then cover it up and let it stand two days, stirring it occasionally to help the melting. Now take two ounces of citric acid, dissolved in a little boiling water, and add it to the syrup, stirring the whole. Then strain the whole through a fine sieve, covered with muslin, so that it becomes perfectly clear. In well-corked bottles it will keep for more than a year. Mix one-third of the lemonade with two-thirds water. [Instead of the oranges five or six lemons may be used.]

BEVERAGES FOR THE SICK:--Unfermented Grapejuice. Hot milk. Egg cream, made as follows: Beat the white and yolk separately, add milk and sugar, and stir well, flavor to suit taste. Egg lemonade--beat yolk and sugar thoroughly, add lemon and water, shake well, then add white, beaten stiff. Barley water, made by boiling pearl barley five or six hours, and straining the water from it; add milk or cream if wished. These are used in the National Temperance Hospital of Chicago.

BATHS:--"If all people understood the value of water to cool,
cleanse, invigorate and sustain life, and how to use it, _and
would use it_, one-half of all the afflictions from disease
would be removed; and the other half might be banished if all
the people understood how and what to eat, how to breathe, and
the necessity of daily vigorous exercise. A daily towel bath
will do more to counteract disease, and restore the body to its
normal health condition, than any other method or remedy yet
discovered. After the bath, the body should be thoroughly rubbed
with a crash or Turkish towel. Rub until a warm glow is
produced. This bath is a fine tonic if taken upon rising in the
morning."

HOT WATER AS A MEDICINE:--"One is never," says a physician, "far
from a pretty good medicine chest with hot water at hand. It is
a most useful assistant to the mother of a family of small
children, who is frightened often to find herself confronted by
a sudden illness of one of her flock, without her usual
dependence--the family doctor. If the baby has croup, fold a
strip of flannel or a soft napkin lengthwise, dip into very hot
water, and apply to the child's throat. Repeat and continue the
application till relief is had, which will be almost at once.
For toothache, or colic, or a threatened lung congestion, the
hot-water treatment will be found promptly efficacious if
resorted to. Nature needs only a little assistance at the first
sign of trouble to rally quickly in the average healthy child,
and often hot water is all that is wanted."

ALCOHOL INJURIOUS TO THE INSANE:--Dr. Richard Maurice Bucke, whose valuable paper on "The Evolution of the Mind" appeared in the December number of the _Journal of Hygiene_, in a recent report of the Asylum for the Insane in London, Canada, makes the following statement concerning the use of alcohol in the institution over which he presides:--

"As we have given up the use of alcohol, we have needed and used
less opium and chloral; and as we have discontinued the use of
alcohol, opium and chloral, we have needed and used less
seclusion and restraint. I have, during the year just closed,
carefully watched the effect of the alcohol given, and the
progress of cases where, in former years, it would have been
given, and I am morally certain that the alcohol used during the
past year did no good. With humiliation I am forced to admit
that in the recent past my noble profession has been to an
alarming extent, and is still too much so, guilty of producing
many drunkards in the land, directly or indirectly, by the
reckless and wholesale manner in which so many of its members
have prescribed alcoholic stimulants in their daily practice for
all the aches and pains, coughs and colds, inflammations and
consumptions, fevers and chills, at the hour of birth and at the
time of death, and all intermediate points of life, to induce
sleep and to promote wakefulness, and for all real or imaginary
ills."

TOBACCO AND THE EYESIGHT:--"Prof. Craddock says that tobacco has
a bad effect upon the sight, and a distinct disease of the eye
is attributed to its immoderate use. Many cases in which
complete loss of sight has occurred, and which were formerly
regarded as hopeless, are now known to be curable by making the
patient abstain from tobacco. These patients almost invariably
at first have color blindness, taking red to be brown or black,
and green to be light blue or orange. In nearly every case, the
pupils are much contracted, in some cases to such an extent that
the patient is unable to move about without assistance. One such
man admitted that he had usually smoked from twenty to thirty
cigars a day. He consented to give up smoking altogether, and
his sight was fully restored in three and a half months. It has
been found that chewing is much worse than smoking in its
effects upon the eyesight, probably for the simple reason that
more of the poison is thereby absorbed. The condition found in
the eye in the early stages is that of extreme congestion only;
but this, unless remedied at once, leads to gradually increasing
disease of the optic nerve, and then, of course, blindness is
absolute and beyond remedy. It is, therefore, evident that, to
be of any value, the treatment of disease of the eye due to
excessive smoking must be immediate, or it will probably be
useless."--_Journal of Inebriety._

"Dr. Isaac Fellows was for many years a prominent physician in
Los Angeles. A temperance man, he was persuaded by an old
physician whom he loved to try for a year substituting alcohol
in drop doses in water for such patients as demanded alcoholic
stimulants. He was delighted with the result. When his patients
found they could not have wine, beer or brandy under the guise
of medicine, but must take it in drop doses in water, as they
did their other medicines, they speedily learned to do without
'a stimulant.'"--_Pacific Ensign._

ADVERTISED "CURES" FOR DRUNKENNESS.

"_Poudre Coza_, an English product, is sold at $3.00 for thirty
powders. On analysis these powders were found to contain an
impure form of sodium bicarbonate, together with a little
aromatic vegetable matter. Gloria Tonic was examined by the
Massachusetts Board of Health, and found to consist of sugar of
milk and cornstarch, with a small quantity of ground leaves
resembling those of senna. White Ribbon Remedy was found to be
made of milk sugar and ammonium chloride. Of course such things
are clearly frauds, as they can have no power to destroy a
craving for liquor. The Infallible Drink Cure was 98 per cent.
sugar and 2 per cent. common table salt. Another 'cure' was made
of chlorate of potash and sugar. Cases of poisoning by chlorate
of potash are on record. Another 'cure' contained tartar emetic,
a dangerous poison. Most of the liquid 'cures' for drunkenness
sold prior to the passage of the National Pure Food Law
contained large quantities of cheap alcohol. It is safe to say
that practically all of the secret cures for drunkenness are
fraudulent, and some are dangerous.

"If a man wants to quit drinking, he can be helped by a proper
diet, and by frequent use of the Turkish bath, or even of the
ordinary hot bath at home, with a quick cold sponge or shower
bath each morning as a tonic. The hot bath is to draw out
impurities from the system. The diet should consist of plenty of
fruit, nuts, grains and vegetables. It is better to eat no meat.
It has been fully demonstrated in Lady Henry Somerset's work
with women drunkards that a vegetarian diet is a great help in
allaying the alcohol crave. The Salvation Army, in England, have
also found by experience that a meat-free diet is a great aid in
overcoming the drink habit.

"Dr. T. D. Crothers, who has for years conducted a large
sanitarium for the cure of inebriety, at Hartford, Connecticut,
says that a valuable remedy to break up the impulsive craze for
spirits is a strong infusion of quassia given in two-ounce
doses every hour. As desire for liquor abates the quassia can be
given less frequently, until it is no longer needed.

"Dr. Alexander Lambert, of Bellevue Hospital, New York, has been
treating drunkards and other drug habitues successfully of late.
A description of his treatment may be found in _Success_ for
November, 1909."

MEDICAL PUFFS OF WHISKY AND OTHER ALCOHOLICS:--"Every medical
man knows how he is pestered with advertising circulars of
so-and-so's genuine whisky, and what-do-you-call-em's extra
stout, to say nothing of the tempting offers of wines and
spirits on sale with special discounts to medical men. Other
enterprising firms send samples or offer to send them with the
implied understanding that a testimonial is to be given, or that
at least the wares in question will be recommended to patients.
Even our medical papers have not always been incorruptible. We
have little expectation ourselves of being favored with an offer
of full-page advertisements of extraordinary wines and spirits.
We are not prepared to recommend them except as vermin killers.
Nor are we prepared to remain silent as to their alleged
virtues. The whole system of testimonials is a huge imposture.
Granted that the sample is all that it is described as being,
who can guarantee that what is served to the public in the face
of severe competition will be up to the sample?

"But there is another and a sadder view of the case. We cannot
believe that all the eulogies of all the medical trumpeters of
the wines and the spirits are wilfully false or even
exaggerated. It is a lamentable fact that a vast number of
doctors have a genuine faith in the value and virtue of these
pernicious drinks. It is not simply a question of medicinal use,
though even on that we should join issue. These things are
vaunted as valuable for the promotion of health in spite of all
the accumulating evidence to the contrary. We wish that these
doctors would carefully study this evidence. The pity of it is
that the very worst offenders are the least likely to study it.
We suppose they must die out, and be replaced by men less
prejudiced and bound by the chain of alcoholic habit. We can
only regret that they should be doing so much harm in fastening
the fetters of drink on other people, and hindering their
emancipation from the evil customs which play havoc amongst
us."--_Medical Pioneer._

ALCOHOL AND CHILDREN:--"Parents often labor under the delusion
that alcoholic drinks are good for children and act as tonics.
Mothers will put drops of brandy into the milk with which their
children are fed, increasing the quantity with the age of the
recipient. In the illness of children the same is given to meet
disturbances of the stomach or to increase growth and
development, without taking the advice of any medical man as to
the wisdom of the practice. This is all erroneous. The
excitement of the central nervous system under alcohol,
excitement which seems to be a relief to weariness and to give
strength, is nothing more than temporary at best, and injurious,
causing in fact symptoms of alcoholic poisoning, abnormal
excitement, ending, in extreme cases, in convulsions succeeded
by exhaustion of body and mind, and inducing a kind of
paralysis. Many cases of stomach and gastric catarrh in children
followed by emaciation and debility are due to the early
administration of alcoholic drinks; and impediment of growth
from the same cause is thereby produced. The most serious
derangement is that of the nervous system, and the development
in the young, under the influence of alcohol, of what is known
as nervousness, to which is added the moral paralysis with which
the habit of alcoholic drinking smites its victims in the very
spring-time of life."--PROF. DEMME, of Berne, Switzerland.

"The action of the New York Board of Health, in recommending to
tenement house parents, that on the hottest days of summer a few
drops of whisky be added to the water or food of their infants,
has received a strong protest and rebuke in a meeting at
Prohibition Park, where the opinions of eminent physicians,
collected by the _Voice_, were read, condemning such a course. A
resolution of protest was also adopted."--_Sel._

"For nineteen years we lived with a physician whose success may
be estimated from this one item: He had between 1,600 and 1,700
labor cases, and never once lost the mother, and only twice the
child, and what seems still more remarkable never used
instruments. When other physicians, as often happened, would
come to him to know how he did it, he always answered, 'A woman
will do anything if you only encourage her.' Nor was obstetrics
his specialty--he had none.

"In a fifteen years' practice in Chicago and New York, where
these diseases are so very fatal, and he was much sought after
to treat them, he did not lose a case of scarlet fever,
diphtheria or cholera infantum which he managed himself, and
saved many a one where he was called in consultation, or after
some other physician. Now when such a man after an experience
more than fifty years long and as wide as the continent, gives
it as his unqualified opinion that wines, beers, liquors of
every kind, alcohol itself, are not medicines and should never
be used as such, for SCIENTIFIC reasons, not to mention moral,
is not his opinion entitled to a hearing? Isn't it probable it
weighs more than the doctor's you were just quoting? Is it too
great a risk to act upon it?"--_Pacific Ensign._

"A lady, Mrs. A., tenderly nurtured, refined, cultured, moving
in an influential position, belonged to a family in whom the
tendency to intemperance existed. Realizing the danger, she, for
seven years of her married life, adhered to total abstinence.
Illness came, and the doctor ordered wine; and her husband, deaf
to her arguments, insisted on her taking it. She fell into
habits of intemperance. Her husband died, and for a time she
pulled up and trained as a hospital nurse; but temptation
prevailed, and she fell from bad to worse. Loving hands received
her time after time, and at last placed her in an Inebriate
Home. For a short time she did well, but soon became
unmanageable. After another desperate period she entered a
second home, but after leaving she yielded again, was twice in
prison, and fell into the lowest degradation and utter ruin,
surely deserving our deepest pity. Her doctor and her husband
had persisted in working her fall in spite of her own strongest
convictions."--_Selected._

THEY DID NOT DIE.--"Dr. Lord of Pasadena suffered from
rheumatism of the heart for more than half of a long lifetime.
No doctor ever felt his pulse (which intermitted) without
exclaiming, 'Why, doctor, you have no business to be alive with
such a pulse,'--or something similar. For nineteen years his
wife never retired without having at least one medicine she
could put her hand on in the dark, the ammonia bottle within
reach, the electric battery ready to start like a fire-engine,
and preparations for heating water in less than no time. His
acute attacks usually came in the night--an uninterrupted
night's sleep was something unknown to either the doctor or his
wife in all these years.

"They lived in sight of an open grave, and seldom a week passed
when it did not seem as if death had actually occurred. If ever
a case called for alcoholic stimulants this one did. But none
were ever administered, none were ever kept in the house. The
doctor's standing orders were: 'If all the doctors in the
country order you to give me liquor, and say my life depends
upon it, don't do it. Tell them I know more about it than they
do. It won't save my life; it will only lessen what little
chance I have.' All who knew about this case, and hundreds did,
were driven to the conclusion that if these two people, one in
this condition and the other feeble, could live all alone as
they did, miles from a doctor, and neighbors not near, and could
get along without alcoholics of any kind, everybody can do the
same everywhere. And the doctor finally wore out his heart
trouble and died of another disease."--_Pacific Ensign._

An English weekly journal is responsible for the following anecdote:--

"A Birmingham physician has had an amusing experience. The other
day a somewhat distracted mother brought her daughter to see
him. The girl was suffering from what is known among people as
'general lowness.' There was nothing much the matter with her,
but she was pale and listless and did not care about eating or
doing anything. The doctor, after due consultation, prescribed
for her a glass of claret three times a day with her meals. The
mother was somewhat deaf, but apparently heard all he said and
bore off her daughter, determined to carry out the prescription
to the very letter. In ten days' time they were back again, and
the girl looked a different creature. She was rosy-cheeked,
smiling and the picture of health. The doctor congratulated
himself on his diagnosis of the case. 'I am glad to see that
your daughter is so much better,' he said. 'Yes,' exclaimed the
excited and grateful mother. 'Thanks to you, doctor! She has had
just what you ordered. She has eaten carrots three times a day
since we were here, and sometimes oftener--and once or twice
uncooked--and now look at her!'"

THE REST CURE:--"After all, the veneer of civilization is quite
thin. Scratch most people, and very near the surface you come on
the savage. This is specially true when they are sick. They at
once want charms and miracles to restore them to health, and
come to the doctor or 'medicine man,' as they look upon
him--with this demand: 'I want something, doctor, to fix me up.'
But he, unhappy man, has not wherewith to satisfy them, unless
he is a quack.

"He knows that in most cases all he can do is to give advice as
to how best Nature may be allowed to effect a cure; for Nature
is the great physician, and the doctor's main duty is to stand
by and see that she gets fair play. Nature's chief cure, in a
large number of the diseases to which flesh is heir, is rest.
The tired man needs rest. The tired brain, the tired stomach,
the tired liver and kidneys, need the same rest.

"So, when the patient turns up with an overworked and exhausted
organ of some sort within him--be it what it may--heart, brain
or stomach--the true physician prescribes, first and chiefly,
not drugs, but rest.

"Now, this is generally the advice the patient doesn't want. His
desire is for a bottle of something, no matter how nasty it may
be, which shall 'fix him up,' and let him go on doing what he
has been doing previously. Common-sense is always at a discount,
and never more so than in this case. The tired brain-worker
doesn't want to stop. Give him something to whip up his brain
and his body, something to drive the spurs into them. 'What I
want,' he says, 'is a really strong tonic'; though, if he knew
that before, what was the use of coming to the doctor? Or he
would like to be told to take a glass of whisky-and-water when
he is tired, which is the maddest and most disastrous advice
that could be given.

"The man who has been ill-treating his stomach, eating too much
or too well, also demands a tonic--something to give him an
appetite so that he may eat more. And his poor overwrought
stomach is all the time crying out for rest.

"So it is all along the line. The possessor of an inflamed and
swollen knee prays for a liniment to rub into it which will cure
it straight away, and is highly disgusted when told that he will
have to lie up for a week or two.

"Again, for the tired stomach the cure is starvation. Let the
person live on his own fat, and a little milk-and-water for a
few days, and his stomach will take courage again and return to
work with renewed zest. But it is the most difficult thing in
the world to persuade the patient or his kind relatives of the
truth of this. There are many diseases in which, for a short
time at least, the less food the sick person has the better. But
the relatives are always much wiser than the doctor. They insist
'that the strength must be kept up,' and would like to force the
patient to eat more than he does when well. 'You will let his
strength down, doctor,' is a common complaint, and one of the
difficulties hospital authorities have to face is to prevent
kind friends from smuggling in food to the inmates, who, in
their opinion, are being brutally starved.

"I myself have cured people by making them rest--lie in bed and
starve. But the next time they were sick, _I wasn't the
doctor_."--"PHYSICIAN" in _Our Federation_.

"The blessings of sunlight and fresh air should be more
appreciated. The sun is the godfather of us all. The source of
all light, heat, electricity and energy, what wonder that it was
once worshipped as the Creator. The future will recognize it not
only as the best disinfectant, an all powerful preventive of
disease, but also as a wonderful healer of disease. The more
people can be taught to live in pure air out of doors, and bask
in the rays of the sun, the less of disease there will be to
prevent."--DR. C. H. SHEPARD, Brooklyn, N. Y.

ALCOHOL TESTED.

"Some years ago Dr. Beddoes, a physician of eminence, was very
anxious to put to the test the disputed question as to the power
of alcoholic liquors to give strength to the system. He
discovered that those who had most calls upon their physical
endurance were the smiths who were engaged in forging ship's
anchors, for at one moment they would be exposed to a heat so
fierce that one marveled that any human organization could
endure exposure to it, and then their work would call them away
to a temperature that was chilly and cold, added to which all
the time their work lasted they were bathed in a profuse
perspiration, the demands upon their physical energy were so
great. To counteract this perpetual drain upon their system they
were in the habit of drinking unlimited quantities of beer,
which their masters provided for them as a matter of course, and
a _sine qua non_. One day, as they were resting from their work
at midday, Dr. Beddoes made his appearance amongst some of these
men who were employed in a certain foundry, and submitted a
formal proposition to them, to this effect, that twelve of their
number, the strongest and stanchest, should be selected for an
experiment, and they should work for a week, six of them
drinking only water, and the other six taking their beer as
usual. His proposition was laughed to scorn. The men would not
hear of it. 'Look here, mate,' said their spokesman, 'do you
want us to be all dead men; you don't know what our work is, and
how it takes all a man's strength to weld an anchor. Why, if we
did not have our beer and plenty of it, it would be all up with
us in a brace of shakes.'

"The doctor said: 'I should be very sorry for any harm to come
to you. You know I am a doctor, and I will be constantly at hand
to see if any of you are going wrong, and I promise that if I
see any of you breaking down I will at once stop my experiment.'
And then taking out of his pocket ten crisp five-pound notes, he
displayed them to the anchor smiths. 'I will put down these
notes, L50 in all; six of you shall try water for one week
honestly and fairly; if you pull through without giving in, the
L50 shall be yours; if not, I'll take the L50 back again. Is it
a bargain?'

"This clenched the matter, and very soon the doctor's offer was
accepted, and a gang of six men volunteered to begin their work
on the Monday without beer. The beer drinkers did their best to
chaff the water drinkers, and aggravated them by taking good
care to show them how very nice it was to have recourse to
unlimited beer. The water drinkers kept firm, and the first day,
to their astonishment, found that they could do just as much
work as the rest of their mates. On Tuesday the water drinkers
began to crow over the beer drinkers, for they found that, while
the latter complained and grumbled at the heat, they were
enabled to take the work in a philosophical kind of way.
Wednesday, Thursday and Friday wore away, and the teetotal band
became more and more triumphant, the laugh was all on their
side, for not only did they feel more comfortable than their
beer-loving companions, but the L50 came nearer and nearer, and
at last, on Saturday, when the time for finishing work came,
they threw down their tools and their hammers, and crowded up to
the doctor to claim the prize, and to give a faithful record of
their experiences; and one and all declared that they had done
their hard work with more ease and comfort to themselves than
ever it had been done before, and, instead of feeling tired and
jaded, as they often did on the Saturday afternoon, they were
quite ready to begin work again, and if the doctor had another
L50 to dispose of, they would most gladly give him a chance of
protracting his experiment for another week. The doctor
expressed himself perfectly satisfied with the trial which had
already taken place, and left the place amidst three hearty
cheers, while the men proceeded to discuss the ins and outs of
the matter among themselves."--_National Advocate._

BEER-DRINKING INJURES HEALTH.

"I think there is no doubt that beer-drinking is deleterious to
health, and personally I have never seen any case of disease
where I thought it useful. I believe it is more deleterious to
health than the stronger spirits, and this opinion is derived
from the report of the actuaries' investigations for our
insurance companies a few years ago."--DR. JOHN M. DODSON, Dean
of the Medical Department of the University of Chicago.

"My connection with large medical institutions for many years
past has given me, I think, an excellent opportunity to observe
the effect of beer-drinking and the use of other alcoholic
liquors in many cases. I can say as a result of my own
observation that beer-drinking has a very pernicious effect upon
nearly every organ of the body. It produces disease of the
stomach and digestive tract, of the heart and circulating
system, of the kidneys and liver, and of the nervous system. In
addition to this it lessens the vigor and vital resistance of
the whole body, makes the beer drinker very much more
susceptible to infection such as pneumonia, and other acute
infections, and also lessens his ability to recover from
illnesses of any kind. An untold amount of misery and disease
would be avoided if the use of beer and other intoxicating
liquors could be wiped off the face of the earth."--DR. W. H.
RILEY, Battle Creek Sanitarium, Battle Creek, Mich.

In the report of Bellevue Hospital, New York City, for 1904, Dr.
Alexander Lambert, in speaking of delirium tremens, says: "The
delirium tremens from beer does not come on so readily as that
from whisky, but is slower in clearing up." Page 138 of report.

"Apart from its toxic effect it is seldom realized how harmful
beer may be by promoting obesity, and, in susceptible persons,
favoring dilatation of the stomach."--DR. E. P. JOSLIN,
Professor in Harvard Medical School.

"It is not the concentrated alcoholic liquors alone that cause
heart and kidney trouble but pre-eminently the continued
immoderate use of beer. Nothing is more false than the belief
that the progressive dislodgement of other alcoholic drinks by
beer will diminish the destructive influences of alcoholism. * *
* It has been conclusively established by thousandfold
experiments that soldiers in all climates, in heat, cold and
rain, endure best the most fatiguing marches when they are
absolutely deprived of alcoholic drinks."--PROF. G. VON BUNGE,
M. D., Basle, Switzerland.

"Beer, wine and spirits furnish no element capable of entering
into the composition of blood, muscular fibre, or anything which
is the seat of vital principle. If a man drinks daily 8 or 10
quarts of the best Bavarian beer in a year he will have taken
into his system as much nourishment as is contained in a
five-pound loaf of bread."--_Liebig, the great German chemist._

"Beer-drinker's heart is a term well-known to the physicians of
our large hospitals, and indicates a special condition of
unhealthy enlargement of the heart due to dilatation,
accompanied by some increase of tissue and of fat. Doctors Bauer
and Bollinger found that in Munich one in every sixteen of the
hospital patients died from this disorder. It is common in
Germany--the land of beer-drinking--and proves incontestably
that the habit of drinking even such a mild alcoholic beverage
as lager-beer is one that is undesirable and unwise."--_From
"Alcohol and the Human Body," by Sir Victor Horsley, M. D.,
London._

"Nothing is more erroneous from the physician's standpoint, than
to think of diminishing the destructive effects of alcoholism by
substituting beer for other alcoholic drinks, or that the
victims of drink are found only in those countries where whisky
helps the people of a low grade of culture to forget their
poverty and misery."--PROF. STRUMPEL, Breslau, Germany.

"The result of extolling beer as the mightiest enemy of whisky
and brandy has been that the consumption of the distilled
liquors has changed very little, while to these liquors has been
added beer, the use of which has led to a great and still
increasing beer alcoholism. * * *

"The beer drinker who is not at all a drunkard in the popular
sense, is very frequently the victim of chronic inflammation of
the kidneys. * * * An enlarged and fatty condition of the liver,
marked by a dull pain in the region of the organ, often follows
from the habitual use of beer. The death-rate from liver
diseases among brewers of beer in England is more than double
that in all other occupations. * * * Beer-drinkers have a marked
tendency to enlargement of the stomach, and to chronic
diarrhoea. Beer causes also inflammation of the nerves. This is
often announced by 'rheumatic' pains in the legs. * * * Beer
alcoholism, as well as alcoholism in general, lowers the
resistance of the body to all diseases by injuring most of the
organs. And herein lies the chief danger in the general
wide-spread use of beer. The drinker is especially open to
attacks of infectious disease. * * * The brutalizing effect of
beer-alcoholism is shown most clearly by the fact that in
Germany crimes of personal violence, particularly dangerous
bodily injuries, occur most frequently in Bavaria where there
is the highest consumption of beer."--DR. HUGO HOPPE, Nerve
Specialist, Konigsberg, Germany.

"The life insurance companies make a business of estimating
men's lives, and can only make money by making correct estimates
of whatever influences life. Now they expect a man otherwise
healthy, who is addicted to beer-drinking, will have his life
shortened from 40 to 60 per cent. For instance if he is twenty
years old and does not drink beer he may reasonably expect to
live until he is 61. If he is a beer-drinker he will probably
not live to be over 35. If he is 30 years old when he begins to
drink beer he will probably drop off somewhere between 40 and 45
instead of living to 64 as he should. There is no sentiment,
prejudice or assertion about these figures. They are simply
cold-blooded business facts, derived from experience, and the
companies invest their money on them just the same as a man pays
so many dollars for so many feet of ground or bushels of
wheat."--DR. S. S. THORN, Toledo, Ohio, in U. S. Senate
Document, published in 1901.

"Fatty degeneration of various organs is frequently witnessed in
beer-drinkers. Diabetes mellitus is frequently due to
beer-drinking, and is made much worse by its continuance. In
Germany more than half of the cases in the inebriate asylums
enter from beer-drinking. In Bavaria, the women are not able
properly to suckle their children because of the universal
consumption of their favorite national drink. Indeed, so grave
are the evils caused by beer-drinking that the fight against
beer should now be conducted as strenuously as that against
stronger liquors."--DR. LEGRAIN, Paris, France.

DRUG DRINKS.

In the report of the President's Homes Commission, Senate Document 644, may be found a list of soft drinks examined by the Bureau of Chemistry. The report says:--

"Attention is directed to the danger of soft drinks containing
caffeine, and extract of coca leaf, the active principle of the
latter being cocaine. * * * We have seen how the opium habit may
be acquired by the use of the various proprietary or secret
preparations, and so the cocaine habit may be developed by the
use of these much lauded soft drinks. * * * No wonder that
insanity and diseases of the nervous system are on the
increase."

The following is a list of drinks examined by the Bureau of
Chemistry. Investigation showed that these contained both
caffeine and extract of coca leaf:

Afri Cola, Ala Cola, Cafe Coca, Carre Cola, Celery Cola, Chan
Ola, Chera Cola, Coca Beta, Coca Cola, Pilsbury's Coke, Cola
Coke, Cream Cola, Dope, Four Kola, Hayo Kola, Heck's Cola, Kaye
Ola, Koca Nola, Koke, Kola Ade, Kola Kola, Kola Phos, Koloko,
Kos Kola, Lime Cola, Lima Ola, Mellow Nip, Nerv Ola, Revive Ola,
Rocola, Rye Ola, Standard Cola, Toka Tona, Tokola, Vim-O, French
Wine of Coca, Wise Ola.

The manufacturers of some of those listed claim that their coca
extract is prepared from a decocainized coca leaf, the refuse
product discarded in the manufacture of cocaine. The Coca Cola
company claims that their coca extract is now without cocaine,
and most of the recent analyses show this to be true, yet the
Pure Food Commissioner of North Dakota says in his report for
1907 that Coca Cola as examined by him, "Gave a reaction for
cocaine." It is easy to see that so long as even refuse coca
leaves are used some cocaine may at times be in the product.

As cocaine is the most destructive drug known to humanity its
presence in any of the so-called temperance drinks is a
frightful evil calling for speedy legislation. It is practically
impossible to cure a person of the cocaine habit. This drug
causes insomnia, dyspepsia, chronic palpitations, and complete
paralysis of will-power, with a tendency to criminal acts. When
a person becomes habituated to its use he suffers torments when
not under its influence. The real cocaine fiend will rob or kill
to get the drug. What can be thought of men, who knowing the
deadly nature of this drug, will hide it away in a drink sold as
harmless to children and women who would never touch beer or
wines? It is placed in the drink to form a craving for that
drink and thus create a demand that will enrich the
conscienceless manufacturers.

The following preparations were found to contain caffeine, but
there was no evidence to the effect that coca leaf in any form
had been used in their manufacture:

Calcycine, Celery Cocoa, Citro Cola, Deep Rock Ginger Ale,
Fosko, Heck's Star Pepsin, Koke, Koke Ola, Kalafra, Kumfort,
Lime Juice and Kola, Lon Kola, Meg-O, Mexicola, Pau Pau Cola,
Pedro, Pepsi Cola, Speed Ball, To-Ko, Vril.

The report says that the following list were not examined but
from their names, and from the evidence submitted, they contain
either caffeine or coca leaf extract, or both: Charcola, Cherry
Kola, Cola Soda, Cola Ginger, Field's Coca, Imported French
Cola, Jacob's Kola, Koko Ale, Kola Cream, Kola Pepsin Celery
Wine Tonic, Kola Vena, Loco Kola, Mintola, Mate, Pikmeup,
Ro-Cola, Schelhorn's Coca, Vine Cola, Viz.

Dr. Harvey W. Wiley, chief of the Bureau of Chemistry, says that
the sale of all such drinks should be prohibited.

Caffeine is a drug much used in headache remedies. It is derived
from the kola nut, and from tea and coffee. It is also made
artificially from uric acid occurring in the guano or bird
manure deposits of South America. This bird manure product is
said to be used in some of the drinks while in others caffeine
obtained from refuse tea sweepings is used. The sales-manager of
the Coca Cola Company says the caffeine in their product is made
from tea. It is claimed by the manufacturers of caffeine drinks
that they are as harmless as tea or coffee. But physicians
advise against the use of tea and coffee for children and for
delicate, nervous people, and every intelligent person knows
that these drinks should not be indulged in immoderately. The
secret caffeine drinks at the soda-fountain are not warned
against because few people know of what they are made. So it
frequently happens that children whose parents do not permit
them to drink tea and coffee are taking caffeine in a much more
injurious form at the drug stores.

Dr. Harvey W. Wiley, Chief of the Bureau of Chemistry, says:
"When caffeine is separated from tea and coffee, and used as a
separate drug, it exerts a much more specific action upon the
system than when in natural combination. Its general effect is
to induce that unhappy state described as nervousness, with
deranged digestion and impaired health." Dr. H. H. Rusby, Dean
of the College of Pharmacy, of Columbia University, New York
City, a high authority, says: "Caffeine is a genuine poison,
both acute and chronic. Taken in the form of a beverage it tends
to the formation of a drug habit, quite as characteristic,
though not so effective, as ordinary narcotics. Permanent
disorders of the cardiac function, and of the cerebral
circulation, result from its continued use."

The _Druggists Circular_, for May, 1908, contained a query from
a druggist as to a good formula for a kola nut soda syrup. The
answer was in part as follows: "There are two kinds of
druggists. One kind puts any and every kind of stuff into stock,
and passes it out to his customers, young and old, ignorant or
learned, foolish or wise, his only desire being to get a profit.
The other kind of druggist refuses to stock some things at all.
Kola drinks owe their vogue to the caffeine which they contain.
Caffeine is a poison which is cumulative in its effects, and an
excess of which has not infrequently caused death. We believe
you would better be on record as discouraging rather than
encouraging the growth of the caffeine habit, especially among
young people, who constitute a large part of the soda-water
trade."

The _London Lancet_ of January 25, 1908, reports the results of
experiments made in Paris with kola given to horses to determine
its action in relieving fatigue. It apparently diminished
fatigue, but the horses receiving it lost more weight than those
to whom it was not given. The experimenter said this showed
that kola (caffeine) like alcohol, can give the tissues a lash
with a whip, but that such energy, artificially produced, is at
the expense of the organism. So, when people see the alluring
advertisements of caffeine drinks which "relieve fatigue," let
them beware of the relief which carries with it injury to the
body.

Of the most widely advertised of these caffeine drinks the
government report says: "The prevalence of the 'Coca Cola fiend'
is becoming a matter of great importance and concern." (See
volume on Social Betterment of Senate Document 644, page 268.)
M. M. A.

SPECIAL MEDICAL DIRECTIONS FOR WOMEN.

"In the treatment of diseases of women, alcohol has been
considered a very important remedy. Because it affords relief
from pain, many resort to its use during painful menstruation.
Each month either whisky, or some medicine containing a liberal
supply of alcohol, is considered a necessity.

"The alcohol habit is not infrequently formed in this way. I
have in my mind several cases of inebriety which were traceable
to the habit of taking something to relieve pain at these
periods. A woman whose husband held a high official position,
thus acquired a craving for alcohol and became a confirmed
drinker. He was finally compelled to place her in an institution
for treatment.

"Alcohol affords relief, not by lessening the internal
congestion which causes the pain, but by paralyzing or benumbing
the nervous system. In fact, alcohol, instead of relieving,
aggravates the internal congestion. It is a deceiver, for it
makes the patient believe she is benefited when in fact the
condition is made worse. The uterus has become more congested by
its use, and when the paralyzing effect of the alcohol has worn
off the pain will be found more severe, and the demand for
alcohol increased correspondingly. The only safe and wise plan
when suffering from pain due to internal congestion is to remove
the cause. If uterine misplacement exists suitable treatment
must be taken to correct this. Almost immediate relief from
pain due to congestion of the pelvic organs may be obtained by
taking a hot full bath. A hot foot or leg bath is also a good
treatment since the warming of the extremities quickens the
circulation in the limbs and relieves congestion in the pelvic
region.

"There are various forms of dysmenorrhea or painful menstruation
and each form has a treatment by itself. The congestive type
which is due to taking cold is better relieved by a hot sitz
bath before the date expected, the temperature of the water
should be 101 deg.-103 deg. with the feet in water a degree or two
hotter. If at the time of the period the pain still continues,
an enema or vaginal douche will usually give the necessary
relief unless the patient should be exposed to cold by allowing
the hands, arms, feet or legs to become chilled.

"Many women do not dress their limbs warmly enough at any time.
Just before the menstrual period the tendency is for the pelvic
organs to become congested; there is a greater tendency to cold
feet then, than at any other time. I would therefore advise
warmer clothing on the limbs at such times. The drinking of hot
pepper tea, ginger tea, etc., is a pernicious practice, for
these irritants inflame the mucous membrane of the stomach and
intestines. Hot lemonade or hot water will afford the same
relief without leaving an inflamed surface behind to be
irritated by the next meal.

"There are some cases of great constriction of the uterine canal
which have reflex irritability in the stomach. Those having the
stomach affected cannot take food, the least thing is rejected.
It is best for such to remain quiet in bed, applying heat to the
stomach and abdomen and to the feet until relief is experienced.
Those suffering from headache should also remain quiet in bed.
Some resort to anodynes and form the habit of using codeine,
morphine. All these are bad and should be avoided. I have never
found it necessary to give one dose of either to relieve pain at
such times. Hot applications with the enema, vaginal douche, or
foot bath, has usually been all that was required.

"I recall many cases of severe pain where the extremities were
cold and clammy and the entire body was in a hysterical
contraction that were immediately relieved by a hot vaginal
douche. The muscles relaxed, the patient warmed up and recovered
nicely.

"For securing sleep in insomnia, a hot toddy is often used, but
a quicker and better effect can be gained by a hot, or neutral
bath. The latter given at 99 deg. or 100 deg. for twenty minutes will
produce sleep and refreshment, as it equalizes the circulation
by bringing the blood to the surface.

"It is safer under all circumstances to do without alcohol or
other dangerous drugs in treatment of these diseases."--DR.
LAURETTA E. KRESS, Washington, D. C.

NOTE--An experienced nurse says that prompt relief in painful
menstruation may often be found by sitting upon a toilet
water-jar half full or more of hot water. The steam rises and
the heat relieves.

TOTAL ABSTINENCE AND LIFE INSURANCE.

Nothing shows more clearly and convincingly that alcoholic
liquors have a tendency to shorten life than the figures
published by life insurance companies. A most interesting and
valuable paper upon this theme was read before the Actuarial
Society of America, in 1904, by Mr. Joel G. Van Cise, actuary of
the Equitable Life Assurance Society of the United States. In it
he gives the experience of different life insurance companies
which have separate sections for total abstainers and
non-abstainers. The Mutual Life Insurance Company of New York,
one of the large companies, showed after a few years' experience
with the two sections a death-rate 23 per cent. higher among the
drinkers than among the abstainers. The Sceptre Life for the
years from 1884 to 1903, inclusive, gave the following: Expected
deaths of abstainers, 1,440; actual deaths, 792, being 55 per
cent. of the expected. Expected deaths of non-abstainers, 2,730;
actual deaths, 1,880, or 79 per cent. of the expected. The
Scottish Temperance Life from 1883 to 1902 gave the following:
Abstainers, expected deaths, 936; actual deaths, 420, or 45 per
cent. of the expected. Non-abstainers, expected deaths, 319;
actual deaths, 225, or 71 per cent. of the expected.

Mr. Van Cise goes on to show that the statistics which have been
published from time to time, giving the percentages of mortality
in the various occupations of life, invariably show a higher
death-rate among those engaged in the liquor business than among
those engaged in other lines of work, except such as are
specially hazardous. He says: 'The higher death-rate among
liquor dealers is so universally recognized by life assurance
companies that a number of them will not issue policies, even on
the lives of the richest brewers, upon any terms, and not one of
the companies, to my knowledge, admits liquor dealers upon as
advantageous terms as those engaged in other ordinary
occupations.' He then quotes from a circular sent to the agency
force of a prominent United States company, in which attention
is called to a rule which forbids the taking of any risks on
bartenders: 'Saloonkeepers, generally, not taken, but best of
this class may be accepted on 10 or 15 year endowments only.'
Others connected more remotely with the liquor business might be
taken with a charge of $5.00 per thousand extra. The circular of
instructions adds that the limitations of liquor dealers are
made necessary 'by the very excessive rate of mortality found to
exist among persons so employed.'

Mr. Van Cise closed his address before the Actuaries' Society by
saying: 'I contend that the facts given in this paper show
conclusively that the effect of total abstinence is to lower the
death-rate, and increase the average duration of human life.'

The Equitable Company had a section for total abstainers for a
few years which was discontinued on account of the new insurance
laws which came into effect in 1907. The actuary writes in
response to inquiry: 'We are very careful in our selection of
risks, and only those who drink in moderation will be accepted.
I think it safe to say that, other things being equal, all
American life insurance companies would consider a total
abstainer a more desirable risk than a moderate drinker.'

The United Kingdom Temperance and General Provident Institution,
of London, is a large and successful company which was organized
in 1840, expressly for total abstainers, because at that time
larger premiums were asked from abstainers than from drinkers,
the common opinion then being that alcoholic liquors were
necessary to health. In 1846, this company added a general
section, in which carefully selected moderate drinkers were
accepted, but each section was kept entirely separate from the
other. This separation has continued to the present time, both
classes paying the same premiums, but sharing in profits
according to the earnings of the section to which the members
belong. From 1866 to 1900, for every 100 deaths in the
temperance section there were 137 deaths in the moderate
drinking section, based on a corresponding number of lives at
risk. The dividends for a recent five years average $20 to the
temperance members, and $17 to the drinking members.

The actuary of this English company, Mr. Roderick Mackenzie
Moore, read a paper before the Institute of Actuaries, in 1903,
in which he reviewed the work of this company during its history
of sixty years' experience with abstainers and over fifty with
non-abstainers. He showed that there has been no marked
difference in the number of policies in force in the two
sections, and the average amount of the policies in each section
has been about the same, so that the comparison is as fair as
could possibly be made. He gives these figures: 'Non-abstainers,
male, expected deaths, 8,911; actual deaths, 8,947; per cent. of
actual to expected, 100.4. Abstainers, male, expected deaths,
6,899; actual deaths, 5,124; per cent. of actual to expected,
74.3.' This shows a difference of 26.1 per cent. between the
actual and expected deaths of abstainers and moderate drinkers,
and the full figures show the death rate among the drinkers to
be 35 per cent. higher than among the abstainers.

The American Temperance Life Insurance Association was organized
in 1887. It gives a lower premium rate to members of the
abstainers' section than to those in the general section. The
circulars sent out by this company state that the average life
of moderate drinkers is thirty-five and a half years; tipplers,
fifty-one years; total abstainers, sixty-four and one-fifth
years.

Very interesting is the result of an inquiry made of various
insurance companies not long ago as to whether they consider the
habitual user of intoxicating beverages as good an insurance
risk as the total abstainer; 'if not, why not?' All but two out
of forty-one companies answered, 'No.' The two answered,
'Depends on quantity used.' In answer to the 'Why not?' the Etna
said, 'Drink diseases the system and shortens life'; Hartford
Life, 'Moderate use lays foundation for disease'; Knights of the
Maccabees, 'Drink tends to destroy life'; Knights Templar and
Masons' Life Indemnity, 'Drink lessens ability to overcome
disease'; Sun Life, 'Drink injures constitution. Habit apt to
grow'; Massachusetts Mutual Life, 'Drink causes organic changes.
Reduces expectation of life nearly two-thirds.' The rest of the
answers are much the same as these.--_M. M. A._

INDEX

Abbott, Dr. A. C., 264, 278, 280, 281, 368

Abdominal bandage, 199

Abel, Prof. J. J., 128

Abernethy, Dr., 36

Acetanilid, 180, 301, 346

Acetic acid in pharmacy, 134, 136

Acid drinks kill bacilli, 150

Adelung, Dr. Edward Von, 326, 379

Adynamic disease, 272

Aiken, Dr. J. M., 376

Alabama law and alcoholic prescriptions, 27

Albumen, 30, 60, 62, 152, 173