Genre:

News-Commentary

Subjects:

Hospitals, Narcotics, Temperance, Pharmaceuticals, Medical Practitioners, Medical Treatment, Measurement, Health

    Notes that the '"anti-alcoholic" manifesto lately put forth by two hundred and fifty first-class doctors' has aided the foundation of a 'movement' to establish a hospital for the 'treatment of diseases apart from the ordinary administration of alcoholic liquors'. Puzzled by this claim, the author stresses that most doctors treat diseases rather than administer alcoholic beverages. Suggests that the doctors might want to establish a hospital where alcohol will not be used to treat diseases and that 'nearly every article in the Materia Medica' might be banned owing to its toxic effects. Asks who the doctors have in mind when they claim that 'it is believed' that the prescription of alcohol for medical purposes has caused intemperate habits, and wonders how many readers attribute their taste for alcohol to its medical consumption. Appreciates that alcohol should be administered with as much care as 'any other drug' and speculates that this will lead to carefully graduated 'physic glasses' which will replace wine glasses at tables.