Clinical studies of the histories and early causes of many cases of inebriety, indicate that the injudicious use of alcohol or its compounds, prescribed as medicine, have been the starting point of many lamentable cases. There can be no doubt that such cases are more frequent than we are aware of; also that irregular practitioners and domestic prescriptions are responsible for a large share of them.
A book on domestic medicine, quite popular a few years ago, and somewhat widely circulated, written by an irregular, in which alcohol was the common remedy recommended, has been the exciting cause in several well-authenticated cases of inebriety, and has probably been the origin of many others. The free use of bitters, containing alcohol in combination with very impure drugs, is responsible for a large per cent of such cases. Remedies that appear recommended in the newspapers, with alcohol as a base, are also