An inquiry into the reasons and results of the prescription of intoxicating liquors in the practice of medicine / by F.R. Lees.

  • Lees, Frederic Richard, 1815-1897.
Date:
1866
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: An inquiry into the reasons and results of the prescription of intoxicating liquors in the practice of medicine / by F.R. Lees. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    14/148 (page 12)
    Different relations of Drugs. bites. Some vegetables are followed by increased, others by decreased action, of this or that special organ. To what then are the varied ' effects' to be ascribed? We answer, to the joint- properties of the two agents—the drug and the organism. The forces of the one co-act with the forces of the other—and the product is the physiological or pathological state, whether it be sedation, stimulation, elimination, or inflammation. § 9. The singular difference of effect demonstrates that each drug hears a different permanent relationship to the organism, since to say that different effects follow the same relations, is but a disguised way of asserting, that like causes produce unhke results, which, again, is equivalent to the doctrine that effects (viz. differences) have no ground of difference! If there were but one element in existence, there could be no relatio7i—and therefore no causalty : for every cause is double. A, alone and absolute, has no power to produce B: because there is by the supposition, only indivisible A. But postulate A and B— (not one, but unity—the One with the Other)—and the parent- age of C, ' the effect,' becomes possible. Postulate Divine ' Thought' and ' Power '—and creation is evolved : remove 'thought' or 'power' and nothing is left/or thought. All things are double: and of this dual universality, the law of causation is one example. In Logic we have major and minor —the conclusion completes the trine. In Physiology we have male and female —the offspring is the third. In Botany we have root and stem—the flower and fruit finish the trinity. In Physics we have two forces (centripetal and centrifugal) the residt is motion. In Chemistry we have acid and alkali—the third is the neutral-salt. In Soul, we have reason and passion—Will makes the triad ; and in God, we have Reason —Love—Spirit,—in other words, Creator, Redeemer, and Purifier. Ignorance of this law has led to many delusions, not only in philosophy and religion, but in physiology. Dr Anstie's book on ' Stimulants ' is an elaborate blunder [see next note] based on the supposition that if A 4 and B 4 produce a certain effect together (say sensible narcotism), but B 1 and B 5 an apparently different physiological effect (not narcotism), then it is because the j^roperties of Al are different from A2, and those of A2 from A3 and A4; or, in other words, that if a change of quantity in A, from 1 to 4 occurs, therefore at some one point, causelessly and suddenly, the quality of A undergoes a total change! I reply, not so. The final result is due to a combination of forces ; but the action