Through the kindness of Dr. Alanson Weeks, Chief Surgeon of the Emergency Hospital Service in San Francisco, all the patients with delirium tremens in that institution during the greater part of last year were turned over to me for observation and treatment.
After a few months' observation I found that practically all those with the severer types were suffering from an acid intoxication and the conclusion was forced on me that any line of treatment, to be efficient, must dilute and neutralize the effects of this intoxication and favor its rapid elimination.
Alcohol belongs to the group of the hydrocarbon narcotics, and while it affects all types of tissues it has a selective action for the fats of the nervous system and liver.
The severe types of delirium that have come under observation have all given evidence of a severe acid intoxication, and the method that I am about to