Pick Your Poison

The effects of alcohol as a medicine: an essay read before the Fifth National Convention, held at Saratoga, August 1, 2, and 3, 1865

This pamphlet calls upon physicians to cease the routine prescription of alcoholic beverages as a medical treatment. Jewett questions the therapeutic and health benefits of alcohol, noting that it slows down bodily processes, can be poisonous, and has no nutritive value. The use of alcohol as a medicine was widespread at this point, but, as temperance movements gained traction, physicians began to consider the negative impact alcohol could have on health, not only when used recreationally, but when used in a medical context, too.