430 PRACTICAL CONCLUSIONS. 



ounce of brandy, or even more, may be given for a 

 time (in some cases even for several days) every half 

 hour ; and there is reason to believe that, in desperate 

 cases, life is sometimes saved by this treatment. 



Practical Conclusions. Lastly, I shall venture to 

 repeat here the conclusions I arrived at many years 

 ago concerning the great value of the alcoholic treat- 

 ment of low fevers and inflammations. Increased 

 experience has afforded further confirmation of the 

 correctness of the statements made in the paragraphs 

 below. I do not, of course, refer to slight cases of 

 fever, pneumonia, &c., in which no stimulant what- 

 ever may be required, but to very severe cases of 

 disease only. 



1. In what appeared hopeless cases, as much brandy 

 as the patient could be made to swallow (an ounce 

 and a half to two ounces in an hour) has been given 

 for several hours in succession, and then as much as 

 thirty ounces a day for several days, not only with-^ 

 out producing the slightest intoxication, vomiting, or 

 headache, but the treatment has been followed by 

 recovery. 



2. I would adduce the fact that a man not accus- 

 tomed to drink, when suffering from acute rheumatism, 

 complicated with pericarditis with effusion, pneumonia 

 at the base of one lung, and pleurisy on the opposite 

 side, has taken twenty-four ounces of brandy a day 

 for eleven days ; the tongue being moist and the 

 mind calm during the whole time. While under this 



