suffering from contagious disease. In not one
instance had alcohol been administered, nor had anything like it
been used in the way of a substitute, and there had not been a
single case in which he could conceive that it was ever called
for, while the success which had attended the treatment
generally had been superior to anything he had ever seen
following upon the administration of alcoholic stimulants. One
great truth which had forced itself upon him had reference to
the doctrine of stimulation generally. It had been one of the
grand ideas in medicine that there came times when sick people
were benefited by being stimulated. It was argued that they were
low, and in order that they might be raised and brought nearer
to the natural life they required something like alcohol to
quicken the circulation, quicken the secretion, and help to
preserve the vitality. But the experience which was learned here
tended to show in the most distinct manner that that very old
and apparently rational idea was fallacious. Such stimulation
only tended ultimately to wear out the powers of the body, as
well as change the physical conditions under which the body
worked. True lowness meant practical over-fatigue, and when the
body was spurred on, or stimulated, over-fatigue was simply
intensified and increased. What, therefore, was wanted was not
stimulation, but repose. The sufferer was placed in the best
position to gain entire rest, and all the surroundings or
environments were employed which tended to prevent waste. The
air was kept at the proper temperature, the body of the patient
kept warm, and the simplest and most easily digested foods were
used; the patient's condition then swung round to a natural
state, and he began to get well. In other cases where the sick
were brought under observation suffering already from excitable
condition of the senses, with congestions here and there of the
circulatory or nervous systems, with imperfect condition of the
brain, and with the elements of what was usually denominated
inflammatory or febrile state--the stimulant was already present
(was, indeed the cause of the symptoms) and did not want in any
degree to be enforced further by the acts of treatment. Here,
therefore, they were on the safest grounds as regarded methods
of administration, for they c