Am.  Jour.  Pharni.  ) 
December,  1909.  J 
International  Congresses. 
581 
ical  Congress  to  be  held  in  Budapest,  Hungary,  August  29  to 
September  4,  1909,  I  have  the  honor  to  make  the  following  report : 
TWELFTH   INTERNATIONAL  CONGRESS   ON  ALCOHOLISM 
I  arrived  in  London  July  18,  the  day  on  which  the  congress  was 
officially  opened.  The  sessions  of  July  19  were  devoted  to  general 
meetings,  the  opening  of  the  exhibitions,  and  registration.  On  the 
succeeding  days  there  were  both  general  meetings  and  special 
scientific  sessions  continuing  throughout  the  day  and  usually  also 
the  evening.  A  great  variety  of  subjects  was  discussed  at  these 
meetings.  Thus  in  the  scientific  sessions  the  effect  of  alcohol  upon 
immunity,  heredity,  muscular  and  mental  energy,  its  relation  to 
tuberculosis,  insanity,  and  nervous  diseases,  and  its  use  in  the 
treatment  of  pneumonia  and  enteric  fever  were  discussed  in  a 
conservative  and  scientific  manner.  The  consensus  of  opinion  of 
the  speakers  seemed  to  be  that  alcohol,  in  any  form,  is  but  seldom 
of  distinct  value  in  the  treatment  of  disease  and  some  evidence 
was  brought  forward  to  show  that  alcohol  even  in  moderate  amounts 
has  an  unfavorable  effect  upon  offspring  and  has  a  tendency  to 
lower  resistance  to  infection.  The  dangers  of  alcohol  to  those 
with  any  tendency  to  nervous  or  mental  diseases  was  especially 
emphasized  by  Dr.  F.  W.  Mott,  and  the  effects  upon  children  by 
Professor  Clouston.  The  statements  frequently  made  that  alcohol 
is,  per  se,  a  predisposing  factor  to  tuberculosis  received  some  but 
not  marked  support  from  an  elaborate  statistical  study  by  Henschen 
of  Sweden.  The  statement  that  alcohol  in  very  moderate  amounts 
has  a  markedly  injurious  action  upon  certain  mental  processes  was 
not  confirmed  in  a  series  of  very  careful  experiments  by  Professor 
Rivers  of  Cambridge. 
Figures  were  shown  illustrating  how  marked  has  been  the 
decrease  of  the  use  of  alcohol  in  the  hospitals  of  various  countries. 
In  connection  with  the  discussion  of  the  medicinal  use  of  alcohol 
I  presented  a  paper  prepared  by  Mr.  Wilbert  on  the  alcoholic 
beverages  in  the  different  pharmacopoeias  and  on  the  use  of  wine  in 
the  preparation  of  drugs.  I  called  attention  to  the  fact  that  only 
the  United  States  and  Greek  pharmacopoeias  include  whiskey  and 
suggested  that  its  recognition  by  these  pharmacopoeias  gave  it  an 
undue  prominence  as  a  medicinal  agent;  also  that  wine  is  very 
undesirable  as  a  pharmaceutical  agent,  and  that  the  preparations 
made  with  it  should  be  discarded  from  the  pharmacopoeia.  The 
paper  was  well  received  by  the  medical  members  of  the  congress. 
