is famous as
having been in attendance upon both President Garfield and President
Grant. He is the editor of the _Medical Record_, one of the most
important medical journals published in America. While not a
non-alcoholic physician, he says of the medical use of intoxicants:--

"There is altogether too much looseness among physicians in
prescribing alcohol. It is a dangerous drug. There is much more
alcohol used by physicians than is necessary, and it does great
harm. Whisky is not a preventive; it prevents no disease
whatever, contrary to a current notion. Another thing, we
physicians get blamed wrongfully in many cases. People who want
to drink, and do drink, often lay it on to the physician who
prescribed it. * * * * * I think that in most cases where
alcohol is now used, other drugs with which we are familiar
could be used with far better effect, and with no harmful
results."

Dr. Steger, another physician of the staff, says:--

"I don't use alcohol at all in my practice. I used to use it,
but my observation has been that other drugs do the same work
without the harmful results. Alcohol over-stimulates the heart,
and tears down the cellular tissues of the system, besides
causing other deleterious effects. The use of alcohol is simply
a superstition among physicians. They have used it so long that
they think they always must. I am not a total abstainer, but
that only shows that I take better care of my patients than I do
of myself. It is not good for a healthy man to drink, but
sometimes folks like myself do things which had better be left
undone. I have seen patients in hospitals made absolutely drunk
by their physicians."

The following interesting items in regard to practice in this hospital
are culled from the report of 1897:--

"Temperature was never reduced by active drugs known as
antipyretics.

"Water was allowed freely after all kinds of surgical operations
and in fevers.

"Alcohol was never used as an internal medicine.

"The free use of water in saline solutions directly injected
into the tissues was found of great service. Quarts have been
injected that way with most satisfactory results.

"Antipyretics were altogether discarded as it is well known that
their action diminishes the tone of the heart. Artificial
reduction of temperature only deludes one into th