402 DR. WINN'S OBSERVATIONS. 



a considerable number of medical practitioners, I feel 

 sure that so strong a case would be made out in 

 favour of this mode of treatment, that it would be 

 generally adopted. Moreover, there are cases which 

 have injudiciously been " given up " by the doctor that 

 have recovered under the administration of stimulants, 

 and it has occasionally happened that the delirious state 

 has been relieved by an act performed by the patient 

 in his delirium. Dr. Winn sends me the following 

 interesting remarks in connection with an instance of 

 this: "As regards the use of alcohol in disease, 

 I learnt a lesson when a student which I have never 

 forgotten. I was attending the Fever Hospital at 

 Glasgow, a city which was then quite, a hot-bed of 

 fever, and I went there with my mind fully imbued with 

 the antiphlogistic" theories. Imagine my surprise on 

 finding that the chief remedy employed, and success- 

 fully too, at that hospital, in the worst cases of typhus, 

 was whiskey in frequent and large doses. I can now 

 recall one case in particular, that of a patient in a 

 state of acute delirium, whose head became quite clear 

 after imbibing a bottle of whiskey in about 24 hours ! " 

 It may then be regarded as certain, that in a 

 number of cases, advantage has resulted from giving 

 very large quantities of stimulants. Several remark- 

 able instances will be found reported in Dr. Todd's 

 Clinical Lectures.* But among the most striking are 



* "Clinical Lectures by R. B. Todd, M.D., F.R.S." Edited by , 

 Lionel S. Beale. 



