"There is altogether too much looseness among physicians in prescribing alcohol. It is a dangerous drug. There is much more alcohol used by physicians than is necessary, and it does great harm. Whisky is not a preventive; it prevents no disease whatever, contrary to a current notion. Another thing, we physicians get blamed wrongfully in many cases. People who want to drink, and do drink, often lay it on to the physician who prescribed it. ***** I think that in most cases where alcohol is now used, other drugs with which we are familiar could be used with far better effect, and with no harmful results."
Dr. Steger, another physician of the staff, says:—
"I don't use alcohol at all in my practice. I used to use it, but my observation has been that other drugs do the same work without the harmful results. Alcohol over-stimulates the heart, and tears down the cellular tissues of the system, besides causing other deleterious effects. The use of alcohol is simply a superstition among physicians. They have used it so long that they think they always must. I am not a total abstainer, but that only shows that I take better care of my patients than I do of myself. It is not good for a healthy man to drink, but sometimes folks like myself do things which had better be left undone. I have seen patients in hospitals made absolutely drunk by their physicians."
The following interesting items in regard to practice in this hospital are culled from the report of 1897:—
"Temperature was never reduced by active drugs known as antipyretics.
"Water was allowed freely after all kinds of surgical operations and in fevers.
"Alcohol was never used as an internal medicine.
