'Because there is pain': Alcoholism, Temperance and the Victorian Physician

Type of resource
Author/collaborator
Title
'Because there is pain': Alcoholism, Temperance and the Victorian Physician
Abstract
Liquor was an essential household item in Canada for much of the nineteenth century. As a beverage, it was considered safer than milk or water, and until the 1830-40s cheaper than tea or coffee. As a "social lubricant", it facilitated relations between friends, tradesmen and travellers, and functioned as a commodity of exchange for pioneer areas short of specie. Alcohol was also popularly believed to have medicinal qualities. Given the widespread use of alcohol in health, disease and diet, there was increasing incidence of alcohol abuse in the nineteenth century. In response to the growing abuse, the Canadian temperance movement was organized, spearheaded by the Presbyterian Montreal Temperance Society and its organ The Canada Temperance Advocate, established in 1835.
Publication
Canadian Bulletin of Medical History/Bulletin canadien d'histoire de la médecine
Volume
Vol. 2
Issue
no. 1
Pages
1-22
Date
Summer 1985
Language
en
URL
Citation
Krasnick, Cheryl L. “‘Because There Is Pain’: Alcoholism, Temperance and the Victorian Physician.” Canadian Bulletin of Medical History/Bulletin canadien d’histoire de la médecine Vol. 2, no. 1 (Summer 1985): 1–22. http://www.cbmh.ca/index.php/cbmh/article/view/85.
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