By Aillinn Brennan • Special to The Current
Alcohol and medicine have a long relationship. Magicians and priests were the first doctors and used wine for healing and religious purposes. Receipts for wine based medicines were found on papyri in Ancient Egypt. There are references to wine as medicine as far back as 2,200 BC in Sumer, making wine the worlds oldest documented medicine!
Hippocrates, during the 5th century BC recommended wine as a medicine, and as part of a healthy diet. Galen, the 2nd century AD Greek physician to Roman gladiators, identified the antiseptic properties of wine. He discovered that wine was effective for disinfecting wounds. And in severe wounds of the abdomen, he soaked exposed abdominal contents in wine before retuning them to the abdominal cavity!
In the 1830’s Philadelphia was home to two great medical colleges, the University of Pennsylvania, and Jefferson Medical College. Surgical lectures were the learning tool of the day. As such, the surgery would first be spelled out to the audience, while the patient would anxiously listen. After the outline was presented, patient was given wine to drink with hopes it would ease the pain. At this time there was no anesthesia.
One of the hallmarks of great surgeons, during this period, was their ability to work quickly with their saws, knives and various implements with the hope the patient would not go into shock from the excruciating pain, and blood loss. The surgeon would give the wine and command, “stay still!” and the procedure would begin.
Paris was world renowned for its medical advances and innovations during this period and its hospital system had massive wine vaults for its patients.
In the 1,463 page volume, Domestic Medical Practice from 1918 there are instructions on using wine, especially Sherry, in the creation of medicinal tinctures, having the added benefit of tasting good. In the chapter on “Hygiene, Food and Air,” alcohol as not a “necessity to a person” but should be looked upon as a medicine.
In what would have been a pre-prohibition atmosphere, the book cautions that if alcohol were looked upon as a drug, “the world would be better off.” The medical application of beer was to aid digestion. And could replace food if there was scarcity. The book also cautions “so called French and German wines are mostly adulterated and doctored” and are “very injurious.”
Today, there is considerable information and research about the health benefits of alcohol. Since the 1990’s there has been a lot of research done on modest drinking and mortality. The research is showing that the modest drinkers live longer than the heavy drinkers, and the non-drinkers! So, have a happy healthy new year, and a glass of wine!
Aillinn Brennan is proprietor of The Marion Hose Bar located at 16 W. Broadway in Jim Thorpe.
For more visit www.marionhosebar.com
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