224 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



It is strange that any physiologist should claim this diminution of 

 the normal waste and renewal of tissue as a merit, seeing that life 

 itself is the product of such change, and death the result of its cessa- 

 tion. But, in the eagerness that has been displayed to justify exist* 

 ing indulgences, this claim has been extensively made by men who 

 ought to know better than admit such a plea. 



I speak, of course, of the habitual use of such drugs, not of their 

 occasional medicinal use. The waste of the body may be going on 

 with killing rapidity, as in fever, and then such medicines may save 

 life, provided always that the body has not become " tolerant " of or 

 partially insensible to, them by daily usage. I once watched a dan- 

 gerous case of typhoid fever. Acting under the instructions of skill- 

 ful medical attendants, and aided by a clinical thermometer and a 

 seconds-watch, I so applied small doses of brandy at short intervals as 

 to keep down both pulse and temperature within the limits of fatal 

 combustion. The patient had scarcely tasted alcohol before this, and 

 therefore it exerted its maximum efficacy. I was surprised at the cer- 

 tain response of both pulse and temperature to this most valuable 

 medicine and most pernicious beverage. 



The argument that has been the most industriously urged in favor 

 of all the vice-drugs, and each in its turn, is that miserable apology 

 that has been made for every folly, every vice, every political abuse, 

 every social crime (such as slavery, polygamy, etc.), when the time has 

 arrived for reformation. I can not condescend to seriously argue 

 against it, but merely state the fact that the widely diffused practice 

 of using some kind of stimulating drug has been claimed as a sufficient 

 proof of the necessity or advantage of such practice. I leave my 

 readers to bestow on such a plea the treatment they may think it de- 

 serves. Those who believe that a rational being should have rational 

 grounds for his conduct will treat this customary refuge of blind 

 conservatism as I do. — Knowledge. 



-♦♦♦- 



THE PEEILS OF EAPID CIYILIZATIOK 



By CHAELES F. WITHINGTON, M. D. 



THAT civilization exerts upon the older societies of the world an 

 influence which is on the whole favorable to physical perfection 

 and longevity has been abundantly shown. "While certain forms of 

 disease, more particularly those affecting the nervous system, are in- 

 creasing in frequency as a result of the increased demands upon the 

 workers in our large cities, yet there is no question that a more than 

 countervailing influence is exerted by the greater knowledge of sani- 

 tary science and the increased resistant power which modern civiliza- 



