Letters upon the effects of alcohol as a preventive to tubercular formations and deposits / by Guilford D. Sanborn.
- Sanborn, Guilford D.
- Date:
- 1856
Licence: Public Domain Mark
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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![bank for savings,—a bank in which they above all others should have deposits who are in danger of a literal consumption of their blood and tissues. Those who look upon Alcoholic drinks as only evil and destructive in their effects, tell us that Alcohol is a slow poison, and that under its ac- tion the powers of the system inevitably wear out, and life is shortened. Yet the history of Loois Cormars, an Italian nobleman, is well known, and the fact that, after having led a dissipated life un- til the age of about forty years, and thereby ruin- ed his health, and having resolved to pursue a more regular and temperate course, in carrying out this he drank daily fourteen ounces, or nearly a pint of wine, and lived in health and vigor, both of mind and body, for fifty eight years afterward, dying at the ripe age of one hundred years! The two surgeons, Espagno and Politiman, were drunk every night for the last twenty-five years of their lives; and numerous cases are on record of per- sons who have been constant drinkers, and yet have reached the age of one hundred years or up- ward. Other striking examples may be seen in two of the greatest statesmen of our own country, Daniel Webstee and Henrt Clay, whose arduous labors were sustained during a long life of activity, either by, or at least in harmony with, the constant and free use of alcoholic drinks. It is a well known fact that almost all our public men are free spirit-drinkers, and equally well known that very few of them, and a much smaller proportion than among the community at large, fall victims to Consumption. Alcohol proves itself the antidote to the cares of State and the perplexities of politi- cal life ; and but for its use, many of our states- men would hardly attain the ripe old age to which we find them actually living. In respect to the protective influence of Alcohol- ic drinks against Consumption, testimony from eminent sources is abundant. Says Dr. Cotton, of England, Wine or beer in moderate quantity should be included in the diet list, [where a pre- disposition to Consumption exists,] and I have seen conscientious scruples upon this matter over- come on many occasions with marked advantage. Ancell makes the following statement: Facts are not wanting which tend to establish that the tuberculous constitution is benefited by the mod- erate use of alcoholic fluids. Rokitansky at- taches the greatest importance to maintaining the blood in a venous condition, as a preventive of the formation of tubercles in the lungs, and it is well known both from theory and experience, that no other substance preserves the blood so perfectly in a venous state, as do alcoholic drinks when dai- ly used. Simon, one of the most celebrated pa- thologists of the age, agrees entirely in these con- clusions. Lombard has calculated that consump- tion is only half as prevalent among persons in easy circumstances, who are good livers and often free drinkers, as it is among the great bulk of the population. No stronger testimony, however, has been given in respect to the value of alcoholic drinks as a preventive of consumption, than that of the late lamented Professor Swett, of the New York University, one of the most distinguished of Am- erican practitioners and medical writers. Altho' earlier in life he entertained very different opin- ions on this subject, yet we find in his work on Diseases of the Chest, p. 238, the following candid statement: Two medical gentlemen, says he, attached to the public dead house in this city, (New York,) in which bodies are deposited 3 that are found in the streets, or without friends, discovered in about seventy post mortem examina- tions of those who have died of the most confirm- ed and aggravated intemperance, raozS a single case of tuberculous lungs! A most surprising result, when you remember that this unfortunate class have, probably, long suffered from poverty, bad nourishment, and exposure to the weather; influ- ences which are regarded as predisposing to the tuberculous deposit—and of course to pulmonary consumption. This is very strong testimony to the prophylactie influence of alcohol against consumption ; and it comes from a high source. Prof. Swett also re- commends alcoholic drinks in the treatment of the later stages of the disease, and the use of diluted alcohol for bathing the chest. Prof. Mussev, of Cincinnati, Dr. Charles M. Jackson, of Boston, Prof. Metcalf, of the New York University, Prof. W. Parker, of the New York College of Physi- cians and Surgeons, and Dr. Edward H. Dixon, Editor of the Scalpel, are, with others that might be named, avowed advocates of the use of alcoholic drinks for the prevention and cure of consumption ; and to these distinguished names, with those previously quoted, I may add that of Dr. Marshall Hall, of London. Facts have already been stated showing the protective power of alcohol against tubercular con- sumption, and many others might be adduced did space permit. For instance, it is well known that the butchers in our wholesale markets, who carry on their business in the open air, are almost with- out exception free spirit drinkers. Now from in- quiries whichl have repeatedly made of butchers who have their stand in Washington Market, New York city, who constantly number not less than one hundred men, I learn the astonishing fact that not one death by consumption lias occurred among their number during the last forty years ! Some persons will be disposed to credit this fact to their free use of animal food, and others to their exposure and living in the open air. Yet the continual damp- ness of the atmosphere by which they are sur- rounded, and the prolonged cold without vigorous exercise to which they are exposed in winter, are universally admitted to be influences which strongly predispose to consumption; while, on the other hand, every one knows that many who freely use animal food do not die of this disease, and the same is true of many farmers whose em- ployment is wholly out of doors, and that under more favorable circumstances by far than in the case of the butchers who have been mentioned. I have explained in previous letters how it is that alcohol acts to remove Tubercles, and to pre- vent their further formation and deposit, in cases where they already exist; and have thus shown that it is not only a, preventive but also a curative of Consumption. Its administration, in connec- tion with the inhalation of the proper medicated vapors into the lungs, and with the use of nature's remedies, air, exercise and diet, will cure the dis- ease where it is curable, and greatly prolong life and mitigate suffering where a cure is not to be ex- pected ; in fact, it requires no great powers of dis- crimination to percieve that what will prevent tu- bercles must also assist in curing Consumption in its advanced stages. I hope, however, that no fact or argument which I have adduced will be considered as favoring, or designed to favor, the use of alcoholic drinks by all persons indiscriminately. Those who are not pre- disposed to Consumption, if their occupations and habits are not of themselves destructive of health,](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b21152457_0017.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
