us. The success of the Temperance Hospital has no
doubt had much to do in modifying this abuse. Its death-rate, on an
average, has been only 6 per cent. throughout the years since its
beginning. This is lower than that of any other general hospital in
London, and certainly proves conclusively that alcohol is not necessary
in the treatment of disease. The physicians connected with it have been
men of eminence in the profession, such as Dr. James Edmunds, Dr. J. J.
Ridge and Sir B. W. Richardson.

The visiting staff is not compelled to pledge disuse of alcohol, but is
required to report if it is used. During all these years it has been
given only seventeen times, then almost entirely in surgical cases, and
in nearly all of these a fatal result proved it to be useless. The
patients who are restored to health leave without having had aroused or
implanted in them a desire for alcoholic liquors, neither have they been
taught to regard them as valuable aids to the recovery of health and
strength. On the contrary, there have been many who have come in,
suffering from this delusion, who have had it thoroughly dispelled, both
by their own experience and the experience of their fellow patients.

Sir B. W. Richardson took charge of this hospital from 1892 until his
death in 1897. In his report in 1893 he said:--

"I remember quite well when according to custom, I should have
prescribed alcohol in all those cases that were not actually
inflammatory (speaking of diseases of the alimentary system);
but I never remember having seen such quick and sound recoveries
as those which have followed the non-alcoholic method."

The following selection showing points of practice in this hospital is
taken from the same report:

"For medicinal purposes, we are as free as possible from all
complexity. We use glycerine for making what may be called our
tinctures, and in my clinique I am introducing a series of
'waters'--aqua ferri, aqua chloroformi, aqua opii, aqua quinae,
and so on--to form the menstruums of other active drugs when
they are called for. I also follow the plan of having the
medicines administered with a free quantity of water, and with
as accurate a dosage as can be obtained, for I agree with Mr.
Spender's original proposition that the administration of
medicines in comparatively small and frequent doses is more
effective and useful than the more common plan of larg