Deficiency of vital power in disease, and on support with observations upon the action of alcohol in serious cases of acute disease / by Lionel S. Beale.

  • Lionel Smith Beale
Date:
1863
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Deficiency of vital power in disease, and on support with observations upon the action of alcohol in serious cases of acute disease / by Lionel S. Beale. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

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    “ nutritious substances. From what I have observed, I think it possible that a patient suffering from low pneumonia, or from a very severe form of continued fever, or acute rheumatism complicated with pericarditis and pneumonia, might be kept alive until the disease sub- sided by alcohol alone. The alcohol does not nourish the tissues; and it is very questionable if it diminishes the waste of the tissues in these cases, for in some the waste is indeed extreme. But the patient lives; and we account for the result by concluding at once that the alcohol must be a “ supporter of life. But alcohol, ad- ministered in the very same quantities in the healthy state, might destroy life. There is not a more important question in medicine than the action of alcohol in disease; for, while it has been conclusively proved that it is not a food and does not directly nourish the tissues, there cannot be the slightest difference of opinion among practical men as to its value as a remedy. We differ widely in our views as to the extent to which alcoholic treatment should be carried in a given case, but every one agrees as to its importance. This question of quantity will be consi- dered in the sequel. I propose now to discuss the mode of action of the alcohol in these cases of low disease. It seems to me impossible to ignore the chemical action of this sub- stance. It is not possible to conceive that the large quantity of alcohol taken by many of the patients does not produce some change in the permeating properties of the fluid part of the blood, or some chemical altera- tion upon the soluble constituents belonging to the albuminous class, besides exerting a local influence upon soft and rapidly growing cells. It probably pro- duces other changes besides these. Undoubtedly, in the normal state, alcohol affects the nervous system ; but, in extreme cases of low disease, the nervous phe- nomena appear precisely as in health; and, in many cases, so little is the ordinary action of alcohol mani- fested, that a patient may be taking an ounce of brandy
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