alkaloids is in common use. From this fact it is sometimes argued that
stimulants must supply a physiological need. The same method of reasoning
will apply with greater force to the use of condiments. Such conclusions
appear to us to be scarcely warranted. If the extensive or even universal
practice of a thing proves its necessity, then has there been
justification, either now or in the past, for war, lying, avarice and
other vices. It is strange that drugs differing so greatly in their
immediate and obvious effects as, for example, alcohol and opium, or
coffee and tobacco should be used. Should it he said that only some of the
much used stimulants are useful, there is an end to the argument based on
their universal use. There is no doubt that the use of stimulants in more
than very small quantities is distinctly injurious, and it is difficult to
see what physiological advantage there can be in their habitual use, to
what is vaguely called a moderate extent. Sometimes they are taken for a
supposed medical necessity, and where taste attracts, little evidence
satisfies. Those in the habit of taking them, if honest, must confess that
it is chiefly on account of the apparent enjoyment. The ill-nourished and
the depressed in body and mind crave most for stimulants. A food creates
energy in the body, including the nervous system, and this is the only
legitimate form of stimulation. A mere stimulant does not create but draws
on the reserve forces. What was latent energy--to become in the natural
course gradually available--under stimulation is rapidly set free; there
is consequently, subsequent depletion of energy. There may occasionally be
times when a particular organ needs a temporary stimulus to increased
action, notwithstanding it may suffer an after depression; but such cases
are so rare that they may be left out of our present argument, and
stimulants should only be used, like other powerful drugs, under medical
advice. In the last 25 years the use of alcohol by the medical profession
has steadily diminished, its poisonous properties having become more
evident.