88 THE TREATMENT OF DISEASES. 



ounce and a half of water should be taken every two hours. Little or no benefit 

 will be derived from smaller doses. The decoction of willow-bark itself may be 

 used, and fortunately the willow abounds and flourishes in marshy places. 



We have not spoken definitely of the use of bark in the treatment of ague, for 

 of course it will be understood that quinine is the active principle of, and is obtained 

 from, cinchona bark. 



In conclusion we give a summary of the best method of treating ague. 



RULES FOR THE TREATMENT or AGUE. 



1. No active treatment is required during the fit. 



2. Between the fits give three ten grain doses of quinine. 



3. Support the strength by milk and beef -tea and a moderate allowance of wine. 



4. If the bowels are confined give a calomel pilL 



5. If the quinine does no good, add ten drops of tincture of gelseminum to each of the three doses. 



6. Should this not succeed, give the arsenic mixture three times a day in five drachm doses. 



7. Resume the treatment a few days before the expiration of a lunar month. 



8. On recovery, change of air, good feeding, and plenty of exercise are necessary. 



ALCOHOLISM. 



By alcoholism we mean the condition which is induced by over-indulgence in 

 alcohol. It may occur either in a chronic or an acute form. Acute alcoholism is 

 only another name for delirium tremens, and we will describe it in detail under that 

 heading. It is of chronic alcoholism that we are now about to speak. We know of 

 no other name for it, but it is from this complaint that we wish to indicate that a 

 man is suffering when we say that he is a tippler. 



What are the causes of alcoholism ] We can sum them up in one word drink. 

 But how is it that some people " take to drink " whilst others show no inclination 

 to do so ? This is the question we will now consider. 



It is a very general opinion amongst medical men that a tendency to alcoholism 

 is, in a certain sense, hereditary, and the children of a drunken father or mother are 

 very likely to be drinkers. Undoubtedly the force of example is not without its 

 influence, but still there is something over and above this. We frequently find that 

 of the children of intemperate parents, one is a drunkard, a second an idiot, and 

 a third suffers from fits, whilst the remainder exhibit other forms of nervous dis- 

 turbance. We believe that the majority of the most inveterate and hopeless 

 cases of alcoholic excess occurring among the higher classes of society, are produced 

 less by the circumstance of external momentary temptation in which the patient is 

 placed, than by an inherited weakness of the nervous system, which renders all kinds 

 of mental and bodily trouble especially hard to be borne. Occupation is undoubtedly 

 a powerful predisposing cause of alcoholism. In hospital practice we find that a 

 large number of cases are distinctly traceable to the frequent presence of temptation, 

 as for example, in workmen at breweries and distilleries, and potmen and waiters at 

 taverns. In a somewhat higher grade of life, public-house keepers, and the clerks 

 and travellers for wine and spirit houses are very liable to alcoholism. Gentlemen's 

 servants, and especially butlers, afford a fail' proportion of cases. 



