"
It was several moments before either of the surgeons spoke again.
There was a look something like fear in both their faces.
"It is the last time," said Doctor Hillhouse, breaking at length the
silence and speaking with unwonted emphasis, "that a drop of wine or
brandy shall pass my lips within forty-eight hours of any
operation."
"I am not so sure that you will help as much as hurt by this
abstinence," replied Doctor Kline. "If you are in the habit of using
wine daily, I should say keep to your regular quantity. Any change
will be a disturbance and break the fine nervous tension that is
required. It is easy to account for your condition to-day. If you
had taken only your one or two or three glasses yesterday as the
case may be, and kept away from the excitement and--pardon me
excesses of last night--anything beyond the ordinary rule in these
things is an excess, you know--there would have been no failure of
the nerves at a critical juncture."
"Is not the mind clearer and the nerves steadier when sustained by
healthy nutrition than when toned up by stimulants?" asked Doctor
Hillhouse.
"If stimulants have never been taken, yes. But you know that we all
use stimulants in one form or another, and to suddenly remove them
is to leave the nerves partially unstrung."
"Which brings us face to face with the question whether or not
alcoholic stimulants are hurtful to the delicate and wonderfully
complicated machinery of the human body.
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