Volume 1
A dictionary of medicine : including general pathology, general therapeutics, hygiene, and the diseases of women and children / by various writers ; edited by Richard Quain ; assisted by Frederick Thomas Roberts and J. Mitchell Bruce.
- Date:
- 1894
Licence: Public Domain Mark
Credit: A dictionary of medicine : including general pathology, general therapeutics, hygiene, and the diseases of women and children / by various writers ; edited by Richard Quain ; assisted by Frederick Thomas Roberts and J. Mitchell Bruce. Source: Wellcome Collection.
68/674 page 40
![not forget, however, that while exciting this increased activity, such doses do not elevate the temperature of the body ; on the contrary, where the effect can he measured, it is found that they depress it a little. By continuing to exhibit such doses, we can sometimes (in erysipelas, puerperal peritonitis, and similar diseases) lower febrile heat by alcohol where even quinine proves ineffectual. The con- sequences of this decline of fever-heat are an immediate restoration to consciousness, if delirium or stupor has been present; and, in any case, a general improvement in the feel- ings of the patient. Todd and his school, before the application of the thermometer, called this the effect of stimulus, while in reality the improvement is, to a great extent, due to the diminution of febrile disturbance. As fever patients can tolerate large quantities of alcohol without showing any sign of intoxi- cation, it is allowable, and sometimes even necessary, to rise in the scale of doses beyond the hmits ordinarily prescribed. Of late years alcohol has been given during the night to hectic phthisical patients as a preventive against copious and exhausting attacks of sweating, and with a gratifying amount of success. Such patients certainly tolerate the remedy much better than has hitherto been generally supposed. It need hardly be said that, in cases of cardiac excite- ment, not resulting from fever, alcohol is at least to be used with caution. Mode of Administration.— One of the most important, but at the same time most difficult, points for decision is the exact na- ture and quality of the alcoholic drink to be prescribed or allowed to a patient who may require alcohol in some form. For general use, a pure claret, hock, or Moselle wine are the forms of alcohol most to be recommended. Cognac, champagne, old gin or whisky, and the heavier Southern wines, may also be used according to circumstances. But what- ever drink may be selected, it must at least be free from fusel oil to such an extent that a healthy man, even after imbibing a consider- able quantity, will not feel any other effects than those of a pure stimulus; that is to say, an agreeable exhilaration of spirits, neither accompanied by a sense of weight in the head, nor followed by that persistent overfilling of the cerebral vessels and dulness of ideas : characteristic of the physiological effects of fusel oil. The fusel oils (so called from their oily qualities) consist chiefly of propyl, butyl, and amyl alcohols, of which the last-named forms the largest proportion. In order to examine any specimen of alcohol with reference to its purity from these objectionable constituents, it is only necessary to rub a few drops between the palms of the hands for half a minute, by which rapid evaporation is caused, and then to smell the moist spot left on either palm. If the alcohol be pure, no odour whatever should remain, as ethyl alcohol evaporates very quickly ; amyl alcohol, on the contrary, is much less volatile, and, if present in the liquid, will not have evaporated, so that its peculiar and unmistakable odour will remair to attest its presence as an impurity in trie specimen examined. This test is not applicable to the more complicated liqueurs and wines, as these all contain certain odoriferous organic principles of their own, which might disguise the smell of the fusel oil. The inoffensive quality of any given preparation, as a wine or spirit, can only be relied upon when one knows by experience that it is pure ; and then it should always be obtained, if possible, from the same source, so as to ensure uniform purity. To facilitate the process of estimating the quantity of any particular beverage necessary to be administered in order to produce a given effect, a table is subjoined showing the per- centage of absolute alcohol contained in aver- age specimens of the different kinds of wine, beer, &c, in common use. Absolute Alcohol contained in— Kumiss (a fermented liquor made from milk or whey). from 1 to 3 vol. per cent. Kefir is the same, but derived from the milk or whey of the cow, whilst kumiss comes from the milk or whey of the mare. Both contain much carbonic acid, which renders them easily digestible. German beer 1: from 3 to 5 vol. per cent. Hock or claret: from 8 to 11 vol. per cent. Champagne : from 10 to 13 vol. per cent. Southern wines (port, sherry, madeira, &c.) : from 14 to 17 vol. per cent. Brandy and the stronger liqueurs: from 30 to 50 vol. per cent. For antipyretic purposes one will need to give an adult daily not less than the equiva- lent of fifty cubic centimetres (about two fluid ounces) of absolute alcohol, in divided doses within an hour or two. Taking this as a starting-point, the dose suitable for each individual case can be estimated accordingly. The great quantity of carbonic acid con- tained in certain 1 sparkling ' wines acts upon the temperature of a fever patient much in the same favourable manner as the alcohol itself; and when alcohol is to be taken as a food, it would seem that the impregnation with carbonic acid facilitates its absorption. All that has been stated thus far with regard to the use of alcohol in sickness applies to children as well as to adults. • Of course no reasonable person would accustom healthy children to the use of alcoholic beverages; but, in cases of disease, really good and pure wine or brandy can be advantageously employed, even for infants, either as a stimu- lant, an antipyretic, or an article of food, according to circumstances. . For external use, alcohol has been super- ] English beer will contain a little more, but the writer has made no personal examination as to exactly how much.](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b20415539_001_0068.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
