Free summaries
Drugs/Alcohol/Pharmacology — page 2
74 public-domain drugs/alcohol/pharmacology books, summarised. Page 2 of 2.
A Short View of the Frauds and Abuses Committed by Apothecaries: As well in Relation to Patients, as Physicians: And Of the
Christopher Merret
A 17th-century doctor exposes the reckless shortcuts, inflated prices, and bad ingredients of local druggists, arguing that physicians must reclaim their craft by making their own remedies.
An atlas of gas poisoning
Great Britain. Medical Research Committee
This clinical reference work serves as a stark visual and medical guide to the physiological devastation wrought by chemical weapons during the First World War, providing a somber documentation of injury for medical officers.
Observations on the Oleum Jecoris Aselli, or Cod-liver Oil: Its nature, properties, mode of preparation, &c
John Savory
The introduction of a new medical remedy often follows a predictable cycle: initial fervor, widespread use, eventual decline, and final oblivion. This exploration of cod-liver oil provides a historical and clinical perspective on why this particular substance persisted where others failed.
The truth about the tobacco habit
T. Swann (Thomas Swann) Harding
This investigation navigates the contentious landscape of early 20th-century health habits, dismantling common medical superstitions surrounding tobacco and coffee with a sharp, skeptical wit. It serves as a reminder that scientific consensus is often merely the temporary armor of prevailing social prejudice.
Study and Stimulants
Unknown
A massive crowd of Victorian intellectuals steps forward to answer one urgent question: do tobacco and alcohol fuel the working brain, or do they poison it?
A Counter-Blaste to Tobacco
King of England James I
A monarch’s furious, polemical broadside against the rising popularity of tobacco, characterizing the habit as a vile, stinking corruption that threatens the health and morality of the nation.
A Treatise on Regional Iodine Therapy for the Veterinary Clinician
Mart R. (Martin Robert) Steffen
Iodine serves as a bridge between the crude, painful traditions of early twentieth-century veterinary farriery and the emergence of more refined, non-invasive therapeutic techniques for the clinician.
Sober by Act of Parliament
Fred A. (Fred Arthur) McKenzie
In a world grappling with the persistent social fallout of alcohol consumption, a century-old investigation remains a vital record of how law and public policy attempt to curb human vice.
Apis Mellifica
C. W. Wolf
The bee represents a profound medicinal mystery, offering a potent therapeutic agent that, when handled with precision, serves as a "best little friend" to humanity in the battle against internal and external maladies.
Bessbrook and Its Linen Mills: A Short Narrative of a Model Temperance Town
J. Ewing (James Ewing) Ritchie
This account documents an ambitious industrial experiment in Northern Ireland, where a factory owner successfully replaced the social ills of the Victorian era with a self-contained, alcohol-free community built around linen production.
The happiness rock
Albert Teichner
When two space scouts discover a mysterious white powder on an asteroid that induces pure, effortless joy, they unleash a microscopic organism that threatens to paralyze human civilization.
Consumption Curable: Observations on the Treatment of Pulmonary Diseases
Henry Congreve
A secret botanical remedy promises to reverse the most dire respiratory conditions, challenging the medical establishment’s grim consensus on the treatment of consumption and asthma.
Some Constituents of the Poison Ivy Plant (Rhus Toxicodendron)
William Anderson Syme
Isolation of a plant’s invisible toxin requires methodical extraction, physical endurance, and a willingness to suffer the painful rash of contact dermatitis in the service of accurate chemical synthesis.
An Essay on the Effects of Opium. Considered as a Poison
John Awsiter
When a powerful narcotic enters the human stomach, it triggers an immediate and violent struggle for survival rather than a peaceful end.
The American Therapist. Vol. II. No. 7. Jan. 15th, 1894: A Monthly Record of Modern Therapeutics, with Practical Suggestions Relating to the Clinical Applications of Drugs
Various
This medical periodical captures the intense, transitional anxieties of nineteenth-century clinical practice, where the promise of laboratory science first began to challenge the long-standing, often erratic traditions of the country doctor.
Government by the Brewers?
Adolph Keitel
A former industry insider exposes how the American brewing establishment used mass corruption, political bribery, and control of the ballot box to maintain its grip on society.
An essay on the influence of tobacco upon life and health
R. D. (Reuben Dimond) Mussey
Man is the only creature that deliberately poisons his own instincts, choosing a narcotic weed that defies nature and slowly wrecks both body and mind.
The virtues of common water
John Smith
Water stands as a universal remedy, capable of preventing or curing nearly every bodily ailment with nothing more than consistent, temperate application. By rejecting strong spirits in favor of nature’s primary drink, humanity may reclaim its lost vitality and longevity.
Essay on the effects of iodine on the human constitution: With practical observation on its use in the cure of bronchocele, scrophula, and the tuberculous diseases of the chest and abdomen
William Gairdner
A potent, newly discovered medicinal agent demands both cautious respect and rigorous clinical observation to transform it from a dangerous curiosity into a life-saving tool.
One Purple Hope!
Henry Hasse
A broken, addicted space-drifter is forced to choose between a final, fatal indulgence and a grueling, redemptive path to sobriety when a mysterious stranger offers him a way off Venus.
Vanity, All Is Vanity: A Lecture on Tobacco and its effects
Unknown
This lecture serves as a fervent, nineteenth-century diatribe against the consumption of tobacco, framing the habit as a moral and physical catastrophe that enslaves the soul and degrades the human intellect.
A Disquisition on the Evils of Using Tobacco: and the Necessity of Immediate and Entire Reformation
Orin Fowler
A fiery nineteenth-century sermon turns its sights on a pervasive habit, painting tobacco as a moral poison and a quiet drain on human potential.
Observation on the Use and Abuse of Mercury, and on the Precautions Necessary in Its Employment
Alexander Philip Wilson Philip
This clinical discourse examines the medical administration of mercury, advocating for precision and caution to balance its undeniable therapeutic potency against the risks of physical depletion and systemic mismanagement.
The New Sunday Liquor Law Vindicated
J. Ewing (James Ewing) Ritchie
A fervent defense of mid-Victorian temperance legislation, this work dismantles the publicans’ arguments against Sunday closing laws. It captures a moment of intense social friction where the rhetoric of "liberty" collided with the reality of urban poverty.
The First Report of the Horncastle Teetotal Society, 1843
Anonymous
Five hundred and thirty Lincolnshire villagers trace a six-year march from heavy ale-drinking and destitution to sober respectability in a single printed penny sheet.
Parturition without Pain or Loss of Consciousness
James Townley
A medical practitioner introduces a method for managing the pain of childbirth that promises total relief while allowing the patient to remain fully conscious and physically active throughout the process.