Alcohol, a Dangerous and Unnecessary Medicine. Martha Meir Allen
Hospital, Ann Arbor, Michigan:—"Very little alcohol is prescribed in this hospital."
Maine General Hospital, Portland:—"Comparatively speaking, we use but little alcohol for the reason that we now have many remedies which, especially for continued use, are superior to alcohol, which twenty years ago we did not have. For the conditions or emergencies in which we think alcohol has a value it is used when required or deemed best."
Buffalo, New York, State Hospital sent figures for six years which include cost of alcohol used in the manufacture of pharmaceutical preparations, which, of course, makes a very decided difference. Per capita for 1903 was 22 cents; for 1908 it was 18 cents.
Buffalo, New York, General Hospital:—"The use of alcohol as a drug in this hospital has diminished about one-third in the past ten years, but I wish to add in this connection that the use of all drugs has diminished in this hospital, and to the best of my knowledge in other institutions of a like character. The use of the microscope, and other studies have advanced the science of medicine the same as all other branches of learning, and other methods are coming to be used beside the use of drugs."
Mount Sinai, New York City:—"The use of alcoholic beverages here for medical purposes is the exception rather than the rule. The majority of our cases are surgical cases, and in these alcoholic liquors are rarely prescribed for any purpose whatsoever."
Massachusetts Homeopathic Hospital, Boston, sent figures for five years. For 1904 the cost of alcoholic liquors was $197.69 with 3,720 patients; for 1908, the cost was $69.82 with 4,543 patients. The per capita cost for the five years is as follows: 1904, cost .0531 cents; 1905, cost .0474; 1906, cost .034; 1907, cost .0171; 1908, cost .0153.
In the Boston Medical and Surgical Journal of April 15, 1909, Dr. Richard C. Cabot gave a table showing the decrease in the use of alcoholic liquors, and of other drugs in Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston. The following is his table:
| 1898 | 1899 | 1900 | 1901 | 1902 | |
| Ale and Beer | $759.00 | $793.00 | $1,062.00 | $723.00 | $605.00 |
| Wines and liquors, | 1,563 | 2,209.00 | 1,384.00 | 1,063.00 | 799.00 |
| Total for alcoholic drinks, | $2,321.00 | $3,002.00 | $2,410.00 | $1,786.00 | $1,404.00 |
| Total for other medicines | $8,424.00 | $10,013.00 | $10,132.00 | $9,168.00 | $9,772.00 |
| Number of patients. | 5,005 | 5,203 | 5012 | 5,495 | 5,342 |
| Cost of alcohol per patient. | $0.46 | $0.57 | $0.48 | 0.32 | $0.26 |
| Cost of medicine per patient, | 1.68 | 1.92 | 2.02 | 1.66 | 1.88 |
| 1903 | 1904 | 1905 | 1906 | 1907 | |
| Ale and beer. | $338.00 | $341.00 | $301.00 | $192.00 | $203.00 |
| Wines and liquors. | 688.00 | 904.00 | 144.00 | 546.00 | 610.00 |
| Total for alcoholic drinks. | $1,026.00 | $1,335.00 | $445.00 | $738.00 | $813.00 |
| Total for other medicines, | $7,815.00 | $9,162.00 | $7,018.00 | $5,981.00 | $5,492.00 |
| Number of patients. | 5,429 | 5,709 | 5,531 | 5,513 | 5,966 |
| Cost of alcohol per patient. | $0.19 | $0.23 | $0.09 | $0.13 | $0.13 |
| Cost of medicine per patient. | 1.43 | 1.60 | 1.26 | 1.08 | 0.92 |
Dr. Cabot says:
"Since there has been no fall in the price of stimulants or medicine, the diminished expenditure corresponds to a diminution in the number of doses of medicine and stimulants, and indicates a rapid and striking change of view among the members of the staff of the hospital, especially in the past five years, when it has become generally known that alcohol is not a stimulant but a narcotic and that drugs can cure only about half a dozen of the diseases against which we are contending. "There has been during this period no increase in the proportion of surgical cases among the whole number treated, so that the decreased use of medicines and alcoholic beverages has not resulted from an increased resort to surgical remedies. On the other hand, there has been a great increase in the utilization of baths (hydrotherapeutics), of massage, of mechanical treatment and of psychical treatment, all of which accounts no doubt for part of the falling off in the use of alcohol and drugs."
CHAPTER V.
CHAPTER V.
THE EFFECTS OF ALCOHOL UPON THE
HUMAN BODY.
The body is made up mainly of cells, fibres and fluids. The cell is the most important structure in the living body.