Alcohol: A Dangerous and Unnecessary Medicine, How and Why

“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, £50 in all; six of you shall try water for one week honestly and fairly; if you pull through without giving in, the £50 shall be yours; if not, I’ll take the £50 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 £50 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 £50 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°-103° 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° or 100° for twenty minutes will produce sleep and refreshment, as it equalizes the circulation by bringing the blood to the surface.