A plain and practical treatise on the epidemic cholera, as it prevailed in the city of New York, in the summer of 1832; including its nature, causes, treatment and prevention. Designed for popular instruction. To which is added, by way of appendix, a brief essay on the medical use of ardent spirits. Being an attempt to show that alcohol is as unnecessary and mischievous in sickness as in health / By David Meredith Reese, M.D.

  • David Meredith Reese
Date:
1833
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: A plain and practical treatise on the epidemic cholera, as it prevailed in the city of New York, in the summer of 1832; including its nature, causes, treatment and prevention. Designed for popular instruction. To which is added, by way of appendix, a brief essay on the medical use of ardent spirits. Being an attempt to show that alcohol is as unnecessary and mischievous in sickness as in health / By David Meredith Reese, M.D. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    jected to their abandonment, not merely that they | have often been convenient and useful in sudden emergencies, but that their stimulating quality is useful in cases of general debility, from whatever — cause; and many attribute to them a, tonic and invi- gorating attribute, which in many constitutions is said to be innocent and salutary. In opposition, however, to this sentiment, we have the fact, that this world was peopled, some thousands. of years, by a healthy, vigorous, and athletic population, before the art of distillation supplied them with this medicine; and the additional fact, that among the hundreds of. thousands in our country who totally abstain, these tonic and invigorating effects of it are never called for. And beside, these facts, it cannot be de- nied, that their stimulating and exciting effects upon _ the stomach, and upon the general circulation, however closely resembling those of health, are unnatural and essentially different in character from the excitement accompanying a salutary state of the system. But even if ardent spirits, used strictly as a medi- cline, were possessed of all these virtues, still I] would contend for their entire relinquishment, if for no other reason, than that this medical use, while it continues to receive the sanction of the wise and good, gives origin and perpetuation to all the accumulating evils of intemperance. It can never be made generally dis- reputable, either to traffic in spirituous liquors, or to use them, while they are admitted to be drank daily and habitually as a medicine, either by those who are really sick, or fancy themselves to be so. This will be evident, if we consider that a very