Alcohol: A Dangerous and Unnecessary Medicine, How and Why / What Medical Writers Say

Metadata

Gutenberg ID

26774

Title

Alcohol: A Dangerous and Unnecessary Medicine, How and Why / What Medical Writers Say

Language

en

Book source

Project Gutenberg

Description max 80 words

A pioneering 1900 medical temperance text arguing that alcohol is a poison, not a medicine. Compiled from physician testimonies, it exposes the dangers of alcoholic prescriptions, patent medicines, and drug addictions, urging a return to natural healing and total abstinence.

Summary up to 500 words

In her 1900 treatise *Alcohol: A Dangerous and Unnecessary Medicine*, Mrs. Martha M. Allen compiles the authoritative views of distinguished physicians who reject alcohol as a therapeutic agent. The work systematically dismantles the historical medical belief that alcohol stimulates the heart or aids digestion. Instead, Allen presents evidence that alcohol paralyzes cardiac function, retards blood oxidation, and precipitates liver and kidney disease. She traces alcohol's history from a misunderstood distillate to a ubiquitous, harmful drug, highlighting the efforts of the Woman's Christian Temperance Union and specific medical pioneers like Sir Benjamin Ward Richardson and Nathan S. Davis. Through rigorous experiments, these doctors demonstrated that while alcohol increases heart rate, it simultaneously diminishes circulation efficiency and reduces the heart's actual work capacity. Allen details how modern anti-toxin treatments have already replaced whisky in treating conditions like diphtheria and consumption, noting that alcohol is neither a food nor a tonic. A significant portion of the text addresses the dangers of 'patent medicines' and proprietary drinks, which often contain high levels of alcohol alongside morphine, cocaine, and toxic coal-tar derivatives like acetanilid. Allen warns of the insidious nature of drug addictions, describing how patients and mothers become enslaved to substances like cocaine and morphine, leading to insanity and death. She critiques the medical profession's reliance on routine prescriptions that merely mask symptoms rather than curing causes, often forcing patients to abandon healthy habits like diet and exercise. The book serves as both a scientific indictment of alcoholic medication and a practical guide for nurses, mothers, and the public on maintaining health through non-alcoholic means and natural remedies.

LLM editorial rating

4.2/5

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Categories

• Temperance
• Physiology