Letters upon the effects of alcohol as a preventive to tubercular formations and deposits / by Guilford D. Sanborn.

Sanborn, Guilford D.

Date:: 1856

Credit: Letters upon the effects of alcohol as a preventive to tubercular formations and deposits / by Guilford D. Sanborn. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the National Library of Medicine (U.S.), through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the National Library of Medicine (U.S.)

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Such men will often tell you that they never knew of death from Consumption occurring to a confirm- ed inebriate. Let any observing person look about him and count up the names of all his acquaint- ances who have freely indulged in wines, or other spirituous liquors, and he will arrive at the same result. But whom shall we, any of us, recall as having fallen a victim to this terrible disease ?— Females, from the age of eighteen to that of thirty, first strike the memory. They form the most nu- merous class of victims to Consumption. But, it is seldom the case anywhere, that females partake freely of Alcoholic stimulus, even in its mildest form, and in the country we may say they never do. The next most numerous class includes mild and inoffensive, perhaps interesting or talented young men, who very seldom use alcoholic bever- ages. Then come middle-aged, married men and women, prudent, plodding, care-worn, and too often, it must added, sufferers from legalized ex- cessses in the marriage relations ; and these are seldom even free drinkers of spirituous liquors, the great majority of them not drinking at all. These are facts. They may be observed in any community; and in regard to them I fearlessly challenge contradiction. Now, what do these facts amount to when summed up; First, they show that the great burden of the mortality of Consump- tion falls upon those who never, or as good as never, taste any form of alcholic drinks. And se- condly, without saying that habits of inebriety are necessary to the prevention of Consumption, they do show that those who habitually indulge in the use of spirituous drinks are almost totally exempt from this disease. Dr. J. G. Atkinson, physician to the Wakefield Dispensary, England, who has had the opportuni- ty of making extensive observations on the sub- ject of Tubercular Consumption, and who attended there every patient afflicted with the disease, dur- ing five years, and witnesed the post mortem of all who died, has given us his testimony on this sub- ject. After remarking that the victims of this disease are chiefly taken from among those classes of individuals whose general tone of system is lowered, cases in which the changes produc- ed by the destructive action of Oxygen go on too rapidly, he adds, A remarkable fact exists, strange as it may appear, that in consumptive families the most dissipated and irregular in their habits, and those who have habitually exposed themselves to many of the causes liable to engen- der this diathesis, [diseased condition,] have yet frequently enjoyed longevity; whereas, in the same families, the most virtuous, and those who have guarded their lives with the greatest care and pru- dence, have fallen early victims. I give place to this fact, simply as a fact, and not to sanction or recommend habits of dissipation.— It is the due, and not the undue employment of al- coholic stimulus for which I contend, as preven- tive of Consumption. All the benefits to be de- rived from the use of alcoholic drinks may be se- cured without going to an injurious excess; while on the other hand, immoderate drinking produces the most serious diseases of the liver ana nervous system, although it shields the lungs. Dr Atkinson states that in prisons, where al- coholic drinks are, of course, rigidly excluded, four-fifths of all the deaths occur from tuber- cular disease; while among publicans, (hotel keep- ers,) butchers, seamen, brewers, and others, who take alcoholic stimulus regularly, or we may say irregularly, the deaths from Consumption are much less frequent than in the community at large The want of pure air and of exercise under which the inmates of prisons suffer, will, of course, have some effect in producing the result stated. And yet this is not the whole cause of the prevalence of Consumption among prisoners, as shown by the fact that publicans who are apt to lead an indolent life within doors, do not die of this disease in near so great a ratio as those who pursue other avoca- tions. Thus, in 2,233 deaths recorded during ten years in the town of Wakefield, in England, there were, Deaths of Publicans, in all 25 from Consumption 2 Deaths of other classes over 15 years of age 1665 '• from Consump- tion 541 thus showing a mortality among the adults of oth- er occupations from Consumption of slightly less than one in three ; while among publicans the pro- portion was but one in twelve and a half. It is a well known fact, also, that in wine growing coun- tries, where wines are plentiful and pure, and where the entire population make free use of them, Consumption is a disease almost unknown. But it will be said that dissipated young men do often die of consumption; and if this state- ment be confined to thecase of our cities, I am prepared to admit that it is true. But not a mo- ment's reflection is necessary to show us that these unfortunate young men are subject to a host of influences, the tendency of all of which is to de- stroy vital pmver, to derange the action of all the organs, to nil the blood with disease, and to pre- pare them in every way to fall an easy prey to the destroyer. Excesses in diet, and that of the worst kinds of food; excessive indulgence of animal passion at an age when the body is by no means prepared to endure the tax, and perhaps in the more deadly form of solitary vice; the conse- quences of syphilitic diseases ; late hours in the- atres, saloons, and various other places of resort, where the most poisonous air is inhaled; and the immediate use of tobacco, are some of the vicious and destructive practices which conspire to un- dermine the health of the fast young men of cities, and to sow their lungs with the seeds of consumption. But the man of twenty-five, thirty, or upwards, although he may be of irregular hab- its, is seldom addicted to all these erroneous prac- tices in their worst forms, or so constantly under their influence as the more ardent and less expe- rienced youth; and hence in the older person wc see the protective power of the free use of alco- holic stimulous again come into play, and deaths from consumption are among this class, as we have already seen, extremely rare. LETTER XI. EVIDENCE OF FACTS IN RELATION TO THE EFFECTS OF ALCOHOL IN PREVENTING CONSUMPTION. (Continued.) Liebig says, Of all respiratory matters Alco- hol acts most rapidly, ancf I have shown in pre- vious letters of this course that a perfect respira- tory food, which by ready union with oxygen shall shield the system from too rapid change and decay, is what is most of all required in Consump- tion. Again, he says, Alcohol stands high as a respiratory material. Its use enables us to dis- pense with starch and sugar in our food. I have already quoted the memorable expression of the German chemist Moleschott, that Alcohol is a

Letters upon the effects of alcohol as a preventive to tubercular formations and deposits / by Guilford D. Sanborn.

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