Page:Alcohol, a Dangerous and Unnecessary Medicine.djvu/165

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ALCOHOL AS A MEDICINE.
157

"The use of whisky in this disease positively interferes with digestion which must under all circumstances be kept as perfect as possible in order that the patient may assimilate the food which is so necessary to the upbuilding of the system and to gain strength to fight the onslaught of the disease.

"Its constant use would not only interfere with digestion but would have a tendency to create disease in other organs of the body so that we therefore consider the use of whisky in tuberculosis positively contraindicated.

"Wishing you success in your laudable campaign."—Dr. M. Collins, Superintendent National Jewish Hospital for Consumptives, Denver, Colorado.

"It is difficult for many people to adapt themselves to a methodical plan of life long enough to establish a permanent cure in consumption. I have known many a young fellow with only a slight trouble in his lungs to die in the Adirondacks more from the effects of whisky than from the disease itself."—Dr. Henry P. Loomis, of New York City, in a Lecture on Consumption. (See page 232, of Handbook, on the Prevention of Tuberculosis.)

"The majority of our patients receive no medication whatsoever. The stomach is rarely in condition to bear excessive medication, and the promiscuous use of creosote and similar preparations is to be condemned. Milk and raw eggs are the best articles of diet in addition to a regular diet of simple food."—James Alexander Miller, M. D., of the Vanderbilt Clinic, New York. (From Medical Record.)

"In my specialty, the treatment of pulmonary diseases, I rarely prescribe alcohol in any form, and in the sanitaria with which I have been connected it is the exception where alcohol in any form is prescribed. I have advised against its use where such has been the custom, believing that as a rule alcoholic liquors do more harm than good in the treatment of this disease."—Prof. Vincent Y. Bowditch, M. D., Harvard Medical School, Boston.

"From personal experience in handling pulmonary tuberculosis, not only at the Nordrach Ranch Sanitorium, for the