OF "SUPPORT: 



417 



profuse bleedings, the growth of adventitious products 

 is accelerated ; and that such growth is retarded by 

 alcohol, acids, and some other substances. 



Of support, Further, as regards the meaning of the 

 term " support," it is necessary to make a few observa- 

 tions. In cases of exhausting disease,'we all talk very 

 freely in these days of the importance of support ; and 

 many physicians would regard alcohol as the most 

 valuable of all kinds of support given. Nevertheless, in 

 these very cases the patient, in spite of all the support, 

 loses many pounds in weight, and in the course of a 

 few weeks or even days ; nor is it possible by any 

 know r n means to prevent this result. And it is a fact 

 that, in many of the worst cases I have seen, although 

 the stomach seemed to do its work perfectly, and the 

 quantities of supporting matter consumed by the 

 patient were very great, the emaciation was extreme. 

 The. patient, under these circumstances, has been kept 

 alive long enough to become extremely emaciated. 

 Such emaciation would not exist if the patient were left 

 to nature, because death would have occurred before 

 matters had proceeded to this extremity. But it does 

 not follow that he has been kept alive by food or by 

 matters that support like food. In these cases, I feel 

 confident that the stimulant is really the agent which 

 has kept the patient alive ; for it sometimes happens 

 that patients will not take any form of nutriment ; 

 and not unfrequently the stomach will bear whiskey 

 or brandy, and in large quantity, where it instantly 



