neer_ says:--

"In 1872 there appeared in the _Saturday Review_ an article in
which the medical practitioners of this country were accused of
inciting their patients to free drinking, and in the discussion
which this article called forth, Dr. Gairdner, of Glasgow, said
that fever patients in that city, when treated with milk and
without alcohol, did much better than those reported as having
been treated by Dr. Todd with large doses of alcohol; the latter
resulting in a mortality of about 25 per cent., while those
treated by Dr. Gairdner with milk had had a death-rate of only
12 per cent. About this time the British Medical Temperance
Association was founded, owing to the exertions of Dr. Ridge, of
Enfield, and in 1876 it was enrolled, under the presidency of
Sir B. W. Richardson. It now contains 269 members in England and
Wales, 53 in Scotland and 80 in Ireland, or more than 400
altogether, all professional men and women. This, I think, is
but a sign of the change of opinion on the use of alcoholic
fluids in medical practice, for all who remember what medical
practice was in London thirty years ago know that the use of
wine and brandy in hospital practice was so common that it was
quite a rarity in some hospitals to find a patient who was not
ordered, by some of the staff, from three to four ounces of
brandy or six to eight fluid ounces of wine. The expense caused
to the hospitals by this practice was, of course, great, and
increased notably between 1852 and 1872, owing to the prevalence
of the views of Liebig and his follower, Dr. Todd. The writings
of Parkes, Gairdner, Dr. Norman Kerr and of Sir B. Ward
Richardson, Dr. Morton and others, gradually lessened this
predilection for treating diseases by alcohol, and accordingly
between 1872 and 1882 a great change came over the practice of
London hospitals. Thus the sum paid for milk in 1852 in Saint
Bartholomew's Hospital was L684, and in 1882 it was L2,012;
whilst alcohol in that hospital cost in 1852, L406; in 1862,
L1,446; in 1872, L1,446; and in 1882 only L653. Westminster
Hospital in 1882 spent L137 on alcohol and L500 on milk. One
hospital, St. George's, long continued to use large quantities
of alcohol. That hospital in 1872 had the high mortality among
its typhoid fever patients of 24 per cent., which was twice as