The Management of Delirium Tremens, with the Report of a Case

V. A. ELLSWORTH
1901 Boston Medical and Surgical Journal  
as medical counselors to be much more circumspect than he seems to have been on that occasion. From my experience with sailors in the tropics, I have never seen any reason whatsoever for recommending alcoholic drinks to be served out in regular rations. I have reduced alcohol to the rank of a drug, and have prescribed it only for its temporary stimulant effect in cases of extreme fatigue. In strict accordance with this action I have sometimes, under extraordinary circumstances, in the tropics
more » ... ven one ounce of whiskey to each man of the engine and fire-room force, after standing a most trying and fatiguing four hours' watch in compartments in which the temperature ranged from 135°-165°F., not speaking of the moisture which reigned there. This was done only for a few days at a time, and when the heat and the humidity of the outside atmosphere were such as to give rise to a particularly unbearable condition in the engine and fire-rooms inside, and when steam had to be kept up on all the boilers, but even here I have never been convinced that it did any substantial good, and that the euphoric effect which it produced was not all the good that was done. One ounce of whiskey twice in 24 hours is, however, so small a quantity that I am sure not much harm could have resulted from its administration. Admiral Sampson, when in command of the San Francisco several years since, stopped the beer which came on board regularly for the men about their mealtime. For a time there was, of course, great discontent. Six months later the men had become so thoroughly convinced of the good effect of this order, that they came to the mast and thanked him for having given it. The temperance movement in the navy, the establishment of coffee houses near navy yards, is productive of an immense amount of good. Let it go on. In a recent number of the Archives for Ships and Tropical Hygiene, we have come across an article by Surg.-Maj. M. Fiebig, telling us of his experience in the way of canteen reform in the Netherlandish Army in Java, Sumatra and Batavia. For the past 30 years this army had been unable to subdue a very brave tribe in Northern Sumatra the people of Atjeh who, inspired by their Mohammedan priests, had made an invasion of their territory up to this date impossible.. The new governor of Atjeh, Lieut.-Gen. J. B. Van Heutsz, having long since recognized the baleful influence of alcohol upon soldiers in the tropics, and, acting upon the advice of Dr. Fiebig, abolished the alcohol ration which had been served out to all soldiers of the Malay race and to the coolies ; he also reduced the alcohol ration of the European soldiers to a minimum. In place of this alcohol ration drinks free from all alcohol were served out. Shortly after this it became necessary for an army of five battalions of infantry and 2,300 coolies to move to the north coast of Atjeh to try once again and subdue the rebellious tribes. The expedition included Pidié, Pasangau and Edi on the north coast of Atjeh, and lasted five months. During this expedition no alcohol was allowed in the camps, and the soldiers received money instead of their alcohol ration. The endurance of the soldiers as well as of the officers during the long marches through a difficult country was soon noticed to improve remarkably, in spite of the fact that the expedition lasted five months, that their operations were done under a tropical sun in a country full of malaria. The expedition was a complete success. Both the press and the officers of the expedition, as well as the soldiers, recognized the fact, and testified thereto, that the surprising success with which they had met was in great part due to the moderation, amounting to almost total abstinence, with which they had indulged in alcoholic beverages. The endurance which this small army had shown had never been equalled in the history of tropical warfare, and had up to that time been believed impossible on the part of most of the highest military officers in the Netherlandish Indian Army.
doi:10.1056/nejm190108221450804 fatcat:nqz2wkcw2bachid7kyu3aqkolq