g the first few days her milk did not
flow very freely, and she says her physician advised her to
drink beer. Consequently she commenced to drink a glass of beer
at each mealtime, and a bottle during the night. During the
first six months she had sufficient milk for her baby; but
before the end of that time she had begun to suffer from
flatulency, constipation, gaseous and acid eructations, what she
calls 'heart-burn,' and sometimes vomiting. During the last
three months she has suffered, in addition to the preceding
symptoms, one or two attacks each week of extreme pain, from the
lower point of the sternum to the back between the scapula,
accompanied by retching, or severe efforts to vomit. To relieve
these attacks she has taken liberal doses of gin, in addition to
her regular supply of beer. Now at the end of nine months, her
milk has nearly ceased to flow, her bowels are costive, her
stomach tolerates only small quantities of the simplest
nourishment, her flesh and strength are very much reduced, her
weight being only 96 pounds; and yet she thinks both the beer
and gin make her feel better every time she takes them. Such is
the delusive power of the anaesthetic effect of alcohol. A
persistence in the same management would probably terminate
fatally in from six to twelve months more, from chronic
gastritis, and inanition. But if she will rigidly abstain from
all alcoholic remedies, and take only the most bland,
unirritating nourishment, aided by mildly soothing and
antiseptic remedies, and fresh air, she will slowly recover."

In a clinical lecture delivered before the Senior Class in the
Northwestern University Medical School, Dr. Davis told of a case similar
to the preceding:--

"The flow of milk in her breasts has also diminished to such a
degree that she does not have half enough for her baby. Yet she
says the _beer_ makes her feel better after each drink, and that
the _gin_ helps to relieve the severe attacks of pain, and
consequently she thinks she could not do without them. It is
undoubtedly true that the patient feels temporary relief from
the anaesthetic effect of the alcohol in her beer and gin, just
as she would from any anaesthetic or narcotic. And it is equally
true that so long as the alcohol is present in her blood it so
modifies the hemoglobin and albuminous con