Alcohol: A Dangerous and Unnecessary Medicine, How and Why / What Medical Writers Say

The text surveys medical and social critiques of alcohol, tracing the history of its study and organized opposition, and reporting efforts to limit its use in medicine and pharmacy. It compiles physiological evidence and expert opinion on alcohol's toxic effects on digestion, blood oxygenation, the nervous system and organs such as the liver, kidneys and heart, and challenges claims that alcohol is food, a stimulant or a tonic. It describes temperance hospitals and nonalcoholic treatment practices, legislative and educational campaigns against patent medicines and alcohol prescriptions, and practical preventive measures including hygiene and bathing as alternatives to medicating with alcohol.